Overview
- Pakistan’s virtual assets chief Bilal Bin Saqib said the country will definitely launch a state-backed stablecoin, with separate CBDC experiments under way.
- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Field Marshal Asim Munir, the finance minister, SBP leadership, major bank CEOs and Binance’s Richard Teng held consultations in Islamabad on a National Digital Asset Framework.
- The government circulated a draft regime for Virtual Asset Service Providers that mandates annual cybersecurity reviews, third‑party audits, key management safeguards and continuous technology risk monitoring.
- Officials reviewed a time‑bound crypto amnesty proposal, phased capital‑gains taxation via licensed exchanges and potential sovereign debt tokenisation to bring activity onshore and widen investor access.
- Policymakers highlighted lower‑cost remittances from a $38 billion annual flow, tighter AML/CFT compliance and a shift to licensed platforms in a market ranked third globally by Chainalysis for crypto activity.