Pakistan’s federal government has started a new organization called the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA). This group will be in charge of watching over the country’s digital asset industry.
According to a report from the English-language newspaper Dawn on Tuesday, PVARA will act as an independent regulator. It will give licenses to companies that offer virtual asset services, and it will check to make sure they follow the rules. It will also make sure Pakistan meets global standards, like those from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
This news comes after Muhammad Aurangzeb, Pakistan’s Minister of Finance, said in late May that he supported creating this new authority.
“The country must regulate not just to catch up, but to lead. We are creating a future-ready framework that protects consumers, invites global investment, and puts Pakistan at the forefront of financial innovation.”
Muhammad Aurangzeb, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue.
The plan has hit snags. Last week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) allegedly refused Pakistan’s plan for them to provide cheaper electricity to industries such as Bitcoin miners who require a lot of power.
In May, reports emerged that Pakistan would allocate 2,000 megawatts (MW) of additional power to be used for Bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence (AI) farms.
These attempts were made by the Pakistan Crypto Council, and the Ministry of Finance supported them.
In early June, Bilal Bin Saqib, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Crypto and Blockchain, spoke with the head of Cantor Fitzgerald, Brandon Lutnick, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Saqib discussed with Lutnick subjects including tokenization, Bitcoin mining, the future of Web 3 in Pakistan and ways the two could work together. They also talked, with Mayor Adams, about the ways that New York City, and the Pakistan Crypto Council, can collaborate on crypto-related projects.
In early June, Saqib also visited the White House and his team had a meeting with Robert “Bo” Hines, director of the council on digital assets under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The discussion led to the possibility of working together on projects like mining Bitcoin and even holding Bitcoin as a portion of Pakistan’s national reserves.
