Pakistan Bypasses Civil Service, Appoints Tech Founder to Regulate $25 Billion Crypto Market
In a departure from traditional bureaucratic appointments, Pakistan has placed its digital assets policy under the control of a technology entrepreneur. The government appointed British-Pakistani businessman Bilal Bin Saqib as Minister of State for Digital Assets and founding chairman of the newly formed Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), tasking him with formalizing a shadow market of 40 million cryptocurrency users.
The appointment marks a shift in how the state handles technology-driven financial systems, mirroring Ukraine’s deployment of tech founders to lead public policy. Facing a rapidly expanding retail crypto market that previously offered zero consumer protection and yielded no tax revenue, the state bypassed standard regulatory committees to accelerate deployment.
"Fast-moving digital finance needs people who understand technology from the inside," government officials stated, explaining the decision to appoint an industry practitioner rather than a career civil servant to lead the new regulatory regime.
The Regulatory Framework
Following the Virtual Assets Ordinance 2025, the State Bank of Pakistan formalized the sector by enacting the Virtual Assets Act 2026. This legislation legally recognizes virtual assets and establishes PVARA as the statutory authority responsible for the licensing, regulation, supervision, and oversight of all virtual asset activities in the country.
Under directives from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the framework models itself on established global standards, drawing directly from Dubai’s VARA, Singapore’s MAS, and the European Union’s MiCA regulations. The rollout includes a regulatory sandbox designed to run controlled tests on AI-powered payments and decentralized financial services, tapping into Pakistan's heavy reliance on cross-border remittances.
Market Mechanics and State Revenue
The economic scope of the formalization effort hinges on bringing unregulated capital into the state system. Analysts estimate that providing a legal framework for the country's decentralized finance sector could bring $25 billion in virtual assets into the formal tax net.
The government is currently targeting three specific areas of digital asset development:
- Tax Integration: Shifting 40 million retail traders from grey markets to licensed exchanges.
- Energy Utilization: Directing a portion of Pakistan's 20 gigawatts of surplus electricity toward commercial Bitcoin mining.
- Enterprise Development: Launching institutional pilot programs for tokenization and Web3 development.
Global Policy Integration
PVARA is actively integrating with international regulatory bodies to standardize cross-border digital asset flows. Saqib currently sits on the World Economic Forum’s Steering Committee on Digital Asset Regulations. Additionally, PVARA leadership recently met with Bo Hines, Executive Director of President Trump’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, to discuss bilateral policy coordination and Pakistan's framework for Web3 enterprises.
Locally, the informal trading market is already shifting toward the newly regulated system. Pilot programs covering exchange licensing, domestic mining operations, and asset tokenization are now live, actively testing the integration of virtual asset service providers with Pakistan’s licensed commercial banks.