KARACHI: The Pakistan parliament has passed the Virtual Assets Act, 2026, creating a formal regulatory framework for the country’s rapidly expanding digital finance sector and establishing a dedicated authority to oversee virtual asset activity.
The legislation creates the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), which will be responsible for licensing, regulating and supervising virtual asset service providers operating in the country. The law is intended to introduce clearer rules for the market while promoting transparency, investor protection and the stability of Pakistan’s emerging digital assets ecosystem, PVARA announced in its post on X on Friday.
Lawmakers approved the measure as part of broader efforts to bring oversight to financial technologies that have grown quickly in recent years with limited formal regulation.The authority had previously been constituted through a presidential ordinance issued in July 2025, but the passage of the bill by parliament gives the framework permanent legal standing, the authority added.
Pakistan ranks among the world’s largest cryptocurrency markets by adoption, with millions of citizens actively engaged in virtual assets. Under the legislation, PVARA will also be empowered to implement safeguards aimed at preventing money laundering, terrorist financing and other illicit uses of digital assets. The government has said the framework aligns Pakistan’s regulatory approach more closely with international standards while allowing room for responsible innovation in financial technology.
In January, Pakistan signed a memorandum of understanding with a company affiliated with World Liberty Financial, a crypto finance platform launched in September 2024 and linked to the family of Donald Trump, to explore using a dollar-pegged stablecoin for cross-border payments.
