What happened
A Senate committee on Wednesday 25 February 2026 approved a draft law to regulate virtual assets, taking Pakistan a step closer to legalising the cryptocurrency trading it banned in 2018. The Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat approved the draft “Virtual Asset Act 2026” at a meeting in Islamabad, the committee said.
The bill sets out the mandate of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) and its power to issue licences. Senator Dr Afnan Ullah Khan, a member of the committee, told Arab News that under the proposed law the regulator would oversee coin issuance and mining as well as trading.
“So under the new law, what will happen is that there will be an authority which already exists, the Pakistan Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (PVARA), that will have the power to give licenses in which crypto coins can be issued, in which mining can be done, and they will be able to regulate the whole (crypto) market,” Afnan told Arab News.
What the law would do
According to the senator, PVARA would be able to verify which companies hold a licence to issue crypto coins and which are permitted to raise funds for that purpose. He said the draft also addresses concerns about the use of digital assets for money laundering and illegal purposes and proposes fines for violations by licensees.
Afnan said the committee reviewed the bill and approved the final draft with the consent of all parties. Once approved by parliament, he said, major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP would be traded in Pakistan through crypto exchanges.
Why it matters
Pakistan banned cryptocurrency transactions in 2018, citing financial risks and the absence of regulation, leaving a large informal market in digital assets. In the months before the committee vote the government had been drafting rules requiring virtual-asset service providers to obtain official approval, a shift that officials have framed as bringing the sector under supervision rather than leaving it unregulated.
PVARA last year issued No Objection Certificates to the global exchanges Binance and HTX. The authority said at the time that the certificates allowed the firms to conduct preparatory and engagement activities in Pakistan under defined regulatory oversight and did not amount to full operating licences.
What is still uncertain
The draft must still be presented to the Senate and the National Assembly and then signed by the president before it becomes law. Afnan said the process could move quickly once it reaches parliament, telling Arab News it would “not take a few weeks, it will take maybe like a week,” but he did not give a firm date. The final text has also not been published, so the exact scope of PVARA’s enforcement powers, the licensing fees and the treatment of existing exchanges remain to be seen.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 25 February 2026.
- Arab News Pakistan — "Pakistan Senate committee approves draft law paving way for legal crypto trade"Updated 25 Feb 2026 · The committee's approval of the Virtual Asset Act 2026, PVARA's proposed licensing powers, Senator Dr Afnan Ullah Khan's comments, the 2018 ban and the earlier Binance and HTX No Objection Certificates.
