Pakistan Sets September 5 Deadline for Crypto Firms to Register

Applicants must be a company registered in Pakistan under the Companies Act 2017, meet minimum paid-up capital set by category, and put directors and key staff through a fit and proper test. They also need anti-money laundering systems covering customer checks and transaction monitoring, plus suspicious activity reporting. Cybersecurity and a business continuity plan are required.

Licensed firms must keep customer holdings separate from their own and cannot lend or pledge them without written consent, obligations PVARA said are now legal requirements rather than promises. In return, licensees gain access to the formal banking system, which has been the sector's main obstacle in a country that only recently lifted an eight-year ban on banks serving crypto businesses.

After the No Objection Certificate is issued, a firm must register with Pakistan's Financial Monitoring Unit and incorporate a local subsidiary. Only then can it submit the license application, which means offshore exchanges with Pakistani users need a company in the country to continue. Binance and HTX are among those already holding certificates, PVARA said.

PVARA was created in July 2025 by presidential ordinance, an emergency measure valid for 120 days, and made permanent by this year's Act. It regulates a market that ranked third in Chainalysis' 2025 global crypto adoption index, and where Islamabad has announced plans for a strategic Bitcoin reserve and in July set up a unit within its Federal Investigation Agency to pursue criminal use of digital assets.