Pakistan’s virtual assets regulator has officially opened its licensing portal, requiring all firms operating on or before March 5 to file for a No Objection Certificate by September 5 or permanently cease operations.
The Virtual Assets Act 2026 establishes eleven distinct license categories, spanning exchanges, custody, lending, derivatives, stablecoin issuance, and mining operations.
Prospective applicants must first register a local company in Pakistan and obtain clearance from the Financial Monitoring Unit before submitting a formal license application.
Cryptocurrency firms serving clients in Pakistan have less than two weeks to initiate the nation’s new licensing framework or face mandatory shutdown, under a strict deadline set by the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA).
Companies already providing virtual asset services on or before March 5 of this year, when the law officially commenced, are classified as transitional persons. These entities must submit an application for a No Objection Certificate by September 5. “Operating without submitting an application after that date is an offense,” PVARA announced, citing Section 70 of the Virtual Assets Act 2026. The portal is also open for full licenses and for participation in a regulatory sandbox.
Chairman Bilal bin Saqib announced the regulations in a televised address on Saturday, stating that the framework is designed to protect investors from fraud and bring the digital asset market under the rule of law. He emphasized that the regulatory framework goes far beyond merely supervising exchanges, arguing that stablecoins and tokenization could unlock new pathways for export financing, remittances, and lending to smaller businesses.
The license categories available cover a comprehensive range of activities, including exchanges, custody, broker-dealer operations, advisory services, lending and borrowing, derivatives, discretionary asset management, transfer and settlement, mining infrastructure, and the issuance of tokens pegged to assets or a single fiat currency. Firms are permitted to apply for more than one category.
What licensees take on
To qualify, applicants must be a company registered in Pakistan under the Companies Act 2017, meet the minimum paid-up capital requirements set for their specific license category, and subject directors and key staff to a rigorous fit and proper test. Additionally, firms must implement robust anti-money laundering systems covering customer checks, transaction monitoring, and suspicious activity reporting, alongside comprehensive cybersecurity arrangements and a business continuity plan.
Licensed firms are legally required to keep customer holdings completely separate from their own assets and cannot lend or pledge them without explicit written consent. PVARA emphasized that these obligations are now binding legal requirements rather than mere industry promises. In return, licensed entities gain access to the formal banking system, which has historically been the sector’s primary obstacle in a country that only recently lifted an eight-year ban on banks serving crypto businesses.
After the No Objection Certificate is issued, a firm must register with Pakistan’s Financial Monitoring Unit, incorporate a local subsidiary, and only then submit the formal license application. This regulatory sequence means that offshore exchanges with Pakistani users must establish a physical company in the country to continue operating. Major platforms like Binance and HTX are among those already holding these certificates.
PVARA was initially created in July 2025 via presidential ordinance as an emergency measure valid for 120 days, before being made permanent by this year’s Act. It regulates a highly active market that ranked third in Chainalysis’ 2025 global crypto adoption index. Within this jurisdiction, Islamabad has announced plans for a strategic Bitcoin reserve and established a specialized unit within its Federal Investigation Agency to track criminal use of digital assets.
