KARACHI/SINGAPORE: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is preparing to launch a pilot for a digital currency and is finalising legislation to regulate virtual assets, Governor Jameel Ahmad said on Wednesday, as the country ramped up efforts to modernise its financial system.
Central banks globally are exploring the use of digital currencies as interest in blockchain-based payments grows. Pakistan’s move follows similar steps by regulators in China, India, Nigeria and several Gulf states to test or issue digital currencies through controlled pilot programmes.
At the Reuters NEXT Asia summit in Singapore, Ahmad said Pakistan was “building up our capacity on the central bank digital currency” and hoped to roll out a pilot soon.
He was speaking on a panel alongside Sri Lanka’s central bank governor, P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, with both discussing monetary policy challenges in South Asia.
Ahmad said a new law would “lay down the foundations for the licensing and regulation” of the virtual assets sector and that the central bank was in touch with some tech partners.
The move builds on efforts by the government-backed Pakistan Crypto Council, set up in March to drive virtual asset adoption. The PCC is exploring bitcoin mining using surplus energy, has appointed Binance founder Changpeng Zhao as a strategic adviser and plans to establish a state-run bitcoin reserve.
It has also held talks with U.S.-based crypto firms, including the Trump-linked World Liberty Financial. In May, the State Bank of Pakistan clarified that virtual assets were not illegal. However, it advised financial institutions not to engage with them until a formal licensing framework was in place.
“There are risks associated, and at the same time, there are opportunities in this new emerging field. So we have to evaluate and manage the risk very carefully, and at the same time not allow to let go the opportunity,” he said on the panel.
On Wednesday, Pakistan’s state minister on blockchain and crypto, Bilal bin Saqib, said in a statement that Pakistan’s government had approved the “Virtual Assets Act, 2025” creating an independent regulator to license and oversee the crypto sector.
