Pakistan, Aug. 28 -- Pakistan's cryptocurrency debate has finally moved beyond whether crypto should be allowed.

It is already here.

Pakistanis were buying Bitcoin, holding stablecoins, trading through offshore exchanges and settling peer-to-peer long before the state created a regulatory framework. The Virtual Assets Act 2026 therefore does not create Pakistan's digital-asset economy. It attempts something harder: bringing an economy that developed outside the formal financial system inside it.

Pakistan now has the Pakistan Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (PVARA), a statutory licensing framework and a regulatory perimeter covering exchanges, brokers, custodians, transfers, lending, derivatives, advisory and other virtual-asset acti...