The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued a clarification regarding cryptocurrencies labeled as \u2018illegal\u2019 in Pakistan, stating that its 2018 advisory did not classify virtual assets (VAs) as unlawful instead it merely advised its regulated entities to refrain from engaging with them due to the \u2018absence of a legal and regulatory structure\u2019. \u201cWith reference to the news items regarding the 14th meeting of the National Assembly\u2019s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, it is clarified that State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), in 2018 advised its regulated entities including Banks, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), Microfinance Banks (MFBs), Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs), Payment System Operators (PSOs), Payment Service Providers (PSPs), and Exchange Companies to avoid dealing in Virtual Assets (VAs) due to the absence of any legal and regulatory framework for the VAs; not because it was declared illegal in the country,\u201d the clarification read. The central bank said that the advisory back in 2018 was aimed to protect its regulated entities and their customers from the risks emanating due to the absence of legal and regulatory framework for VAs in the country. \u201cThe SBP and Finance Division are currently engaged with the Pakistan Crypto Council established by the Federal Government for, among others, developing an appropriate legal and regulatory framework for VAs in Pakistan,\u201d it added. \u201cWe understand that the legal and regulatory framework would provide the requisite clarity and legal coverage about the VAs ensuring consumer and investor protection.\u201d Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) Chief Executive Officer Bilal Bin Saqib on Thursday announced Pakistan\u2019s first government-led Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. During a keynote address at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Bilal Bin Saqib made the announcement. The event was attended by prominent figures, including U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Eric Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. Saqib expressed gratitude to U.S. President Donald Trump for his role in easing recent India-Pakistan tensions and supporting cryptocurrency adoption, crediting U.S. policies as inspiration for Pakistan\u2019s move. Saqib emphasized that the Bitcoin reserves, to be held in a national Bitcoin wallet, are intended as a long-term sovereign asset, not for speculation or sale. He stated that Pakistan\u2019s government will never use these reserves to capitalize on Bitcoin\u2019s price fluctuations, ensuring their stability as a national asset.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued a clarification regarding cryptocurrencies labeled as \u2018illegal\u2019 in Pakistan, stating that its 2018 advisory did not classify virtual…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24837,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}