Overview
- PVARA chairman Bilal Bin Saqib said in Dubai that Pakistan will definitely launch a sovereign stablecoin, is experimenting with a CBDC, and suggested the token could help collateralise government debt.
- A Finance Division meeting co-chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Saqib brought together the SBP governor, commercial bank presidents and Binance CEO Richard Teng to plan secure on- and off-ramps, AML/CFT alignment and payments modernization including remittances.
- The government released draft rules mandating stringent cybersecurity and technology governance for VASPs, including a designated CISO, annual risk reviews, third‑party security audits and strict cryptographic key and wallet controls.
- Binance executives also met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the army chief, with officials stressing transparency, formal monitoring of citizen‑held assets and regulated adoption without granting crypto legal tender status.
- PVARA is developing licensing for exchanges, wallets, custodians and stablecoin issuers, while Chainalysis ranks Pakistan third globally for crypto activity even as nationwide user counts remain unverified.