Pakistan quietly became one of the first emerging markets to pass a sweeping national crypto law. The Virtual Assets Act 2026 cleared both chambers of parliament and received presidential assent from President Asif Ali Zardari on March 6. That was fast.
The law formally establishes the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority as the country’s dedicated digital asset regulator. According to @PakistanVARA on X, the Act is designed to “promote transparency, protect investors, and ensure the integrity and stability of the virtual assets market while enabling responsible innovation in financial technologies.”
A nation of 260 million people now has a legal crypto framework. That matters.
What Happens to Unlicensed Operators Now
The law has teeth. Running a virtual asset service without a license carries fines up to PKR 50 million, roughly $179,000, and imprisonment of up to five years. Unauthorized token offerings face a separate penalty capped at PKR 25 million alongside three years in prison.
PVARA now holds authority to grant, suspend, and revoke operating licenses for exchanges, custody providers, and token issuers. The regulator can also establish special virtual asset zones designed to pull blockchain companies into Pakistan’s borders, though no specific zones have been named yet.
The Senate passed the bill on February 27. The National Assembly followed on March 3.
Blockchain Infrastructure for 260 Million People
The blockchain sector noticed. @RYTchain on X addressed PVARA Chairman Bilal Bin Saqib directly, saying the speed and ambition behind the Act is real and that RYT is “building alongside you and Pakistan’s capital markets institutions to bring sovereign blockchain infrastructure to 260MM people.”
That is not a small ambition.
PVARA was first constituted through a Presidential Ordinance in July 2025. That ordinance was set to collapse in early March 2026 without replacement. The new Act converts the temporary body into a permanent statutory authority with full legal standing to acquire property, enter contracts, and enforce compliance.
Shariah Finance Meets Crypto Regulation
One provision separates Pakistan’s framework from almost every other country. The Act mandates a Shariah Advisory Committee to assess services offered by licensed firms. Pakistan operates one of the world’s largest Islamic banking systems. Integrating those religious finance principles into crypto regulation is a deliberate design choice, not an afterthought.
Pakistan ranked third globally in crypto adoption according to Chainalysis data published in 2025. Second in retail-size crypto transactions. That activity happened almost entirely without a formal legal framework.
Binance and HTX already received No Objection Certificates from PVARA before the Act passed. Both are working toward full licensing under the new law. PVARA opened its licensing program to international exchanges in September 2025, requiring applicants to hold existing regulatory recognition from the US, European Union, or Singapore.
Must read: How Pakistan’s virtual asset zones could reshape South Asian blockchain investment
A National Strategy Bigger Than Regulation
The Virtual Assets Act sits inside a broader push. Pakistan announced plans for a strategic Bitcoin reserve. The government allocated 2,000 megawatts of surplus electricity for Bitcoin mining and AI data centers. An MoU with an affiliate of Trump-linked World Liberty Financial is in place to explore stablecoin infrastructure for cross-border payments.
PVARA Chairman Bilal Bin Saqib said the legislation converts “years of unregulated activity into a transparent, secure, and investor-friendly ecosystem.” He has been the public face of Pakistan’s crypto drive, appearing at Consensus Hong Kong 2026 and Bitcoin Las Vegas.
The authority’s governance brings together the State Bank of Pakistan governor, the Securities and Exchange Commission chairperson, finance and law ministry secretaries, and two independent directors with digital asset expertise.
Pakistan took roughly eight months from presidential ordinance to permanent Act of Parliament. For a country building sovereign blockchain infrastructure from scratch, that timeline is striking.
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