What happened
The Senate passed the Virtual Assets Bill, 2025 on Friday 27 February 2026, paving the way for a dedicated regulatory authority to license, regulate and supervise virtual asset activity across Pakistan. The bill will now go to the National Assembly and, if approved, to President Asif Ali Zardari, whose assent would make it an act of parliament.
The legislation provides legal cover to the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), which was set up under an ordinance approved in July last year. That ordinance is due to lapse in early March, and without the bill its legal basis would fall away. The bill’s preamble says it is expedient to establish a dedicated authority to regulate virtual assets and virtual asset service providers in order to “ensure investor protection, transparency and market integrity in Pakistan”.
What the bill does
PVARA is envisaged as an autonomous corporate body with powers to licence, regulate and supervise virtual asset service providers and issuers. Its stated functions include protecting customers and investors and the integrity of Pakistan’s virtual asset markets by enforcing safeguards, conduct-of-business requirements, prudential and operational-resilience standards and risk-management measures, and working to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and other illicit uses of virtual assets.
The authority is to coordinate with the Financial Monitoring Unit, the National Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Authority, other relevant bodies and law enforcement agencies under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010 and international standards. It would be able to issue regulations, standards, directives, guidelines, handbooks and circulars; set risk-management, cybersecurity, data-protection and technical standards; issue, vary, suspend or revoke licences; and impose administrative sanctions and levy prescribed fees, charges and penalties.
The bill creates offences for operating without a licence. Whoever wilfully provides an unlicensed virtual asset service faces imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to Rs50 million, or both. Conducting an initial virtual asset offering in contravention of the rules carries up to three years in prison, a fine of up to Rs25 million, or both. A Virtual Assets Appellate Tribunal would be established for appeals, and courts would not take cognisance of disputes within its jurisdiction; aggrieved parties may appeal within 30 days of an order.
Why it matters
Pakistan has for years sat on the fence over crypto, with the State Bank of Pakistan previously restricting banks from processing virtual-asset transactions even as informal trading grew. The bill is the clearest signal yet that the government intends to bring the sector into a licensed framework rather than leave it unregulated, in part to meet international anti-money-laundering expectations.
The timing is significant. Because ordinances expire after 120 days unless extended, PVARA has depended on short renewals; the Senate’s extension in November bought time for a permanent law. Passage by the upper house shifts the question to the National Assembly and the president, and leaves open how quickly licensing rules would be written and how existing crypto businesses would be treated.
What is still uncertain
The bill must still clear the National Assembly, and no timetable for that vote or for presidential assent was announced. It was not immediately clear how PVARA would treat exchanges and wallets already operating in Pakistan, what licence fees or capital requirements it would set, or whether the State Bank’s earlier restrictions would be formally eased. The authority’s rules and its relationship with existing financial regulators will be defined only once the legislation is enacted and regulations are issued.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 28 February 2026.
- Dawn — "Senate passes Virtual Assets Bill to formalise crypto regulator"Published 28 February 2026 · Senate passage of the Virtual Assets Bill 2025, PVARA's establishment under the July 2025 ordinance and its looming lapse, the authority's licensing and standard-setting powers, penalties for unlicensed services and unlawful initial offerings, the appellate tribunal, and the remaining National Assembly and presidential steps.
