The Federal Government of Pakistan has launched Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), a new organization responsible for supervising the country’s digital asset industry.
According to a Tuesday report by the store of local English language, Pvara will operate as an independent regulator responsible for the granting of licenses, surveillance and supervision of virtual asset service providers. It will also guarantee compliance with international standards, in particular alignment with the Directives of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The report followed a late May announcement from the Ministry of Pakistan Finance, which approved the creation of the new regulatory body. Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Minister of Pakistan for finance and income, said that the country “was to regulate not only to catch up, but to direct”.
“We are creating a ready-made framework for the future that protects consumers, invites global investments and puts Pakistan at the forefront of financial innovation,” added Aurangzeb.
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A declaration from the country’s finance ministry, quoted by Dawn, described the approval of the creation of PVARA as “a critical inflection point”. This decision is part of a broader thrust of the Pakistani authorities to develop in the cryptographic and digital finance space.
However, the strategy has faced obstacles. Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would have rejected a proposal from Pakistan to provide subsidized power to industries with high energy intensity, including Bitcoin miners (BTC).
This follows May reports that Pakistan assigned 2,000 megawatts of excess electricity for Bitcoin exploitation and AI centers. It was part of the wider digital transformation efforts led by Pakistan Crypto Council and supported by the Ministry of Finance.
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In early June, Pakistan Minister of State for Crypto and Blockchain, Bilal Bin Saqib, met Brandon Litnick, the president and chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald and the mayor of New York Eric Adams.
During the meeting with Lunick, SAQIB discussed “Tokenization, Bitcoin Mining, Future Web3 of Pakistan and avenues of collaboration”. Similarly, during the meeting with Adams, the two explored the collaboration between New York and Pakistan Crypto Council.
Also in early June, SAQIB met Robert “BO” Hines, executive director of the digital asset council of American president Donald Trump, during a visit to the White House. Cooperation on cryptocurrency initiatives, such as Pakistan mining operations or Bitcoin reserves, has dominated the discussion.
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