Banks cannot invest, trade, or hold virtual assets using their own money or customer deposits. Their role stops at providing standard banking services to licensed firms.
Banks are also required to conduct full due diligence on every virtual asset firm they work with, update their risk profiling systems to account for crypto-related exposure, and report any suspicious activity to Pakistan’s Financial Monitoring Unit.
Foreign exchange rules and all other central bank regulations still apply. Working with a licensed crypto firm does not free a bank from those obligations.
Pakistan has taken an important step toward formalising its virtual asset ecosystem.
Eight Years Of Restrictions Now Behind ThemPakistan banned virtual currency dealings outright in 2018. For eight years, crypto companies had no path to basic banking services in the country.
That changed when Pakistan passed the Virtual Assets Act 2026 in March — and the central bank’s April 14 circular put the new framework into action.
The government had been laying the groundwork for months. Officials held talks with major exchanges, including Binance and HTX, in December 2025 as part of an effort to bring regulated trading platforms into the country.
Separately, Pakistan explored blockchain-based financial infrastructure through discussions with affiliates of World Liberty Financial, focusing on the use of stablecoins for cross-border payments.
A Regulated Path Forward For Digital AssetsPVARA now sits at the center of this new system. Any virtual asset service provider that wants banking access must first be licensed through the authority. Banks, in turn, are responsible for vetting those firms on an ongoing basis — not just at the point of onboarding.
The central bank’s circular marks the first time licensed crypto firms have had a formal, legal route to banking services in Pakistan. Whether banks move quickly to serve this new client base — or take a cautious wait-and-see approach — remains to be seen.
Featured image from ProPakistani, chart from TradingView
