KARACHI: Pakistan is beginning to digitise its financial assets, and major crypto firms are preparing to register and get licences. Experts say this could have a big impact on how Pakistanis invest.
“Binance and other players are registering with Pakistan’s financial monitoring unit, planning to incorporate locally and apply for full licensing in the future. They may also work on the digitisation of assets in Pakistan,” said former Binance employee and crypto analyst Hadi Hayat. “This is significant because Pakistan ranks third globally in crypto adoption, with around 30-40 million users and over $300 billion invested. Even daily trading volumes from Pakistan are substantial. While this is still in the early stages, the move towards digitisation is very positive; it reduces the risks of corruption, scams and other irregularities.”
The comments come as Pakistan signs a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Binance to explore the tokenisation of up to $2 billion in state-owned assets, a development the crypto industry has called one of the country’s most consequential digital finance steps to date.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the initiative would examine tokenising sovereign bonds, Treasury bills (T-bills) and commodity reserves such as oil, gas, metals and other raw materials.
Tokenisation involves creating digital versions of these assets. If executed through a major global platform like Binance, analysts say it could make Pakistani instruments accessible to overseas investors and improve liquidity, transparency and market participation.
Web3 and digital asset consultant Arsalan Khan said the government’s move signals a shift towards modernising financial markets. He noted that turning traditional financial instruments into digital assets on a global platform could open the door to significant foreign investment: “If these digital assets are sold through a big platform like Binance, it could bring a lot of foreign investment into Pakistan’s market.”
Hadi said the initiative would strengthen customer protection. “For a long time, the market operated in a grey area, unregulated and prone to scams and rug pulls. The legitimacy and stability of registered exchanges will give Pakistani investors more security and prevent incidents like the FTX collapse. Economically, this opens up new investment avenues beyond gold and real estate, including crypto and Web3 applications.”
“Another major advantage is anti-money laundering: blockchain-based transactions with KYC procedures will significantly reduce illicit financial flows,” he said.
Ali Zain, CEO of software company Ideofuzion, called the agreement “one of the biggest global crypto developments,” noting that the deal would build confidence among both local and international investors and signal a major shift towards regulated crypto markets in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, analyst Mudasser Abbas said the tokenisation of government assets would allow Pakistan to leverage reserves as collateral to raise funds domestically and internationally. “Just as the US, Singapore and the UAE have done, we are moving away from only using traditional bonds. Tokenisation provides a quick and easy way to engage investors. By eliminating the middleman, investor engagement becomes easy and quick. This increased transparency, provided by the blockchain, also eliminates the scope for corruption. This entire process is a huge step forward: even challenges like securing funding from the IMF will become much easier for us. Ultimately, everyone can easily participate in buying these assets, whereas before, access was limited to a select few.”
For Ali, “this development also signals a significant shift towards the legalisation and regulation of crypto assets in Pakistan. The country is already among the top ten globally for crypto adoption, and one of the leading markets where people actively research and invest in crypto. These figures come from Binance, which now sees Pakistan as a strategic market. Pakistan ranks among the top five countries for crypto adoption, giving Binance access to a market of nearly 230 million people, 60 per cent of whom are digital users. This is not only a major step for Binance but also for Pakistan’s crypto industry, PVARA [Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority] and the finance ministry. It is expected to bring substantial inflows, as opening up tokenised assets to a global market could attract significant foreign investment.”
Mudasser further explained: “We are streamlining all our efforts to increase crypto adoption, blockchain implementation and Real World Asset (RWA) tokenisation, leveraging this technology to smooth out our financial processes. People may recall that the government had previously been working on crypto mining, aiming to bring in miners and investors. Although six or seven years ago mining operations were shut down and legislation was introduced citing anti-money laundering concerns, the recent agreement has now clarified that mining does not fall under anti-money laundering violations. In fact, that was the very purpose of those earlier bills -- to establish this distinction.”
Experts caution that challenges remain. Hadi said that “market volatility remains a concern, and many investors could still lose money if they lack adequate knowledge. Pakistan will need to improve investor education so people understand the products they are investing in.
Tax implications could also affect adoption; heavy taxes or restrictive regulations could discourage both investors and exchanges. Overall, however, regulatory oversight is a positive step for protecting retail investors and ensuring the market develops sustainably.”
