ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's youth have quietly built the country into the world's third-largest crypto market, and the numbers finally came out in the open on the floor of the Senate.

Bilal Bin Saqib, Chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (PVARA), dropped that figure while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on the Cabinet Secretariat. Forty million Pakistanis, he told lawmakers, now hold crypto accounts a scale few officials had publicly acknowledged before this session.

Saqib didn't mince words about the years Pakistan lost. The State Bank of Pakistan kept digital assets under an outright ban for eight years, he said, and freezing a technology only freezes the country's own progress alongside it. Young Pakistanis, he argued, simply want economic independence, and they built this market with or without official blessing following a global wave already embraced by governments in Dubai and Thailand.

Pakistan Crypto Accounts

The regulator isn't standing still now. PVARA has issued no-objection certificates to two international virtual asset companies, and Saqib set a hard deadline: any virtual asset operator must register by September 5 or face rolling restrictions. His authority built this entire regulatory regime in just five months, he claimed, calling it the fastest such rollout anywhere in the world and one that already puts Pakistan ahead of India on the regulatory front.

Billions Flow Through Crypto

The dollar figures are staggering. Virtual assets carry a $250 billion footprint inside Pakistan, according to Saqib, with $10 to $20 billion in actual money sitting in the space. Users skew young, with most falling under 40 years old.

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Tax policy remains the open question. India slapped a 30% tax on virtual assets, and Saqib made clear Pakistan wants no part of that approach. His authority is still weighing rates, he said, warning that overly aggressive taxation will simply push investors offshore. For now, PVARA is focused on regulating the money already in the system rather than taxing it out of the country.

Cabinet Secretary added a blunt enforcement note: nobody will run crypto operations without a license going forward, and that alone should choke off much of the fraud plaguing the sector today.

Saqib also touted the authority's lean operations, saying PVARA has used just 8% of its allocated government budget while building out a permanent staff. He tied the entire push to remittances Pakistan already receives $41 billion through formal channels, and cutting transaction costs could pull in an extra $2 billion. PVARA is working directly with the State Bank, which now sits on its board, to find cheaper channels for that money. The authority's ambitions stretch further still: capturing the grey market currently sitting outside any oversight, and positioning Pakistan as a global leader in Islamic finance-compliant virtual assets.

Whether the September 5 deadline reshapes the market or simply pushes it further underground will become clear within weeks.