State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad met Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) Chairman Bilal bin Saqib on Thursday, continuing the country’s progress toward the adoption of digital assets.
In a post on X, Saqib said he had met the SBP governor and discussed issues related to digital asset adoption, the implementation of central bank digital currency and Pakistan’s regulatory roadmap for digital assets.
Earlier this month, PVARA issued preliminary clearances to Binance and HTX to begin local licensing processes. The no-objection certificates allow the exchanges to register on the country’s anti-money laundering system and prepare full license applications, but stop short of permitting them to operate at this stage.
Separately, the Ministry of Finance has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Binance to explore potential collaboration, including tokenisation initiatives. In a statement, Binance said the MoU pertains to exploring tokenizing up to $2 billion in state-owned assets.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao serves as a strategic adviser to the Pakistan Crypto Council. In a statement, he described the MoU as “a great signal” for the global blockchain industry and for Pakistan, saying it marked the beginning of a move towards full deployment of the tokenisation initiative.