Islamabad:Minister of State and Chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), Bilal Bin Saqib, briefed Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and the Federal Cabinet on Pakistan's progress in establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for virtual assets. He also briefed them on the opportunities created by the transformation of global financial infrastructure.

The briefing set out how blockchain, stablecoins and tokenisation are being integrated into global payments, investment and capital markets, as major financial institutions and governments build new infrastructure around them. 'When the foundations of the modern financial order were negotiated at Bretton Woods in 1944, Pakistan did not yet exist as an independent nation,' the Chairman said. 'Today, as money becomes programmable, Pakistan has an opportunity to help shape the next generation of global finance. We must not simply rent our financial future. We must help build it.'

Since its establishment in July 2025, PVARA has introduced preliminary regulatory gateways for major international exchanges, established and operationalised a regulatory sandbox, and developed a comprehensive licensing framework. Two sets of licensing regulations were notified on 21 August 2026, approximately five months after the passage of the Virtual Assets Act, 2026. All of this was delivered using less than 8% of the Authority's total budget. In parallel, the State Bank of Pakistan in April 2026 replaced its 2018 restrictions with a conditional banking framework for PVARA-licensed virtual asset businesses.

AI sits at the core of how the Authority operates. AI-assisted workflows already track licensing applications, identify documentation gaps and support regulatory assessments. An AI-enabled complaint management system is also in beta testing. The Chairman emphasised that these systems are designed around human oversight, transparency and accountability, and that regulatory decisions remain with designated officials.

Pakistan's international profile has grown alongside its domestic framework. In September 2026, PVARA convened a high-level dialogue, 'Blockchain and the Tokenized Future', during UN Digital Cooperation Day in New York. It did so with Pakistan's Permanent Mission to the United Nations and the UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies. Pakistan's framework was also presented to UNDP, UNCTAD and the Office of the UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology as a potential model for other developing economies. PVARA has signed regulatory Memoranda of Understanding with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to strengthen cross-border supervisory cooperation.

For the next phase, the Chairman outlined four priorities: strengthening institutional capacity, operationalising supervision and enforcement, deepening coordination with existing financial regulators, and developing structured pilot proposals in cross-border payments and sovereign asset tokenisation. Preliminary work on sovereign debt tokenisation is underway with the Ministry of Finance and relevant financial institutions. This includes proposed digital Eurobond issuances and the potential tokenisation of Naya Pakistan Certificates.

'The objective is not to issue licences for the sake of announcements,' the Chairman Bilal said. 'It is to build a regulator whose licences carry credibility, whose supervision protects Pakistanis, and whose framework enables responsible investment and innovation.'He concluded that Pakistan's next challenge is to turn its regulatory progress into investment, jobs, expertise and financial innovation that contribute directly to the country's economic future.