The on-chain state: Pakistan’s quiet blockchain pivot

Quietly, efficiently, and with very little fuss the Pakistani government has embraced crypto. 

Up until March 2025 the stance of Pakistan’s financial regulators on crypto was clear: it was illegal, no framework to regulate it existed, and they were not interested in creating such a framework. Crypto was untraceable, analysts warned it could cause serious capital flight, economists worried it had been linked in other parts of the world to terror financing, and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) warned banks to cut crypto exchanges off from formal financial systems. 

Even the mention of crypto in regulatory and government circles would elicit scoffs and groans. In less than a year that attitude has done a complete one-eighty.  

Last week, Pakistan signed an agreement with an affiliate of World Liberty Financial, a crypto company linked to US President Donald Trump’s family, to explore a dollar-linked stablecoin for cross-border payments within a developing digital-payments framework. A month before this, Pakistan signed a memorandum of understanding with global crypto exchange Binance, signaling the government’s intent to explore tokenisation of up to $2 billion in sovereign bonds, treasury bills, and commodity reserves.  

In parallel, regulators have given initial clearance to Binance and HTX, two of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, to establish local subsidiaries, laying the groundwork for a regulated digital‑asset market. A third company is also planning an entry into the scene with plans to do more than establishing just a crypto exchange. The plans for them are grander with sights set on creating an ecosystem of products and services based on blockchain technology.

The shift might seem sudden, but it is a natural reaction to an opportunity. Pakistan already sits among the world’s most active crypto markets, a reality that policy has only recently begun to acknowledge. The country ranks third on the Chainalysis 2025 Crypto Adoption Index, trailing only India and the United States, and ranks second globally for retail - a measure that points to everyday, utility-driven usage rather than speculative spikes. This pattern matters. Crypto adoption in Pakistan is not confined to a narrow investor class; it is broad, decentralised, and grassroots, reflecting how digital assets are being used to navigate real frictions in the financial system, from access to dollars to cross-border payments.