Pakistan’s crypto chief makes the case for a national Bitcoin reserve
Pakistan isn’t just warming up to Bitcoin. It’s building a vault for it.
Bilal Bin Saqib, chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), has been making the rounds at global crypto conferences pushing a simple but ambitious idea: Pakistan should hold Bitcoin as a strategic national asset. Not for trading. Not for speculation. For sovereign preparedness.
From seized coins to state reserves
The concept first surfaced during Saqib’s keynote at Bitcoin Vegas 2025 on May 29, 2025, where he laid out a plan to repurpose Bitcoin already in government custody. Law enforcement agencies across Pakistan have seized digital assets through various criminal proceedings over the years, and those coins have mostly sat in limbo. Saqib’s pitch is to formalize that stash into a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve managed through a national wallet.
By February 2026, Saqib reported that the first governance milestone had been reached: transitioning state-held digital assets into formal custody arrangements designed for transparency and accountability.
The reserve strategy is part of a much larger digital overhaul. Pakistan’s government has also moved to redirect 2,000 megawatts of surplus electricity toward Bitcoin mining and AI data center operations.
Building the regulatory scaffolding
Pakistan enacted the Virtual Assets Act 2026, which formally established PVARA as the country’s digital asset regulator and created a licensing portal for virtual asset service providers. The entire licensing infrastructure was reportedly built on a budget of approximately $200,000, accounting for about 8% of the authority’s total budget.
Saqib, who previously served as CEO of the Pakistan Crypto Council before taking the PVARA chairmanship in May 2025, has been consistent in framing digital assets not as speculative instruments but as tools for financial inclusion. In a country where a significant share of the population remains unbanked, that framing carries real weight.
Pakistan reportedly has around 40 million digital asset users, making it one of the largest retail crypto markets on the planet. But until recently, nearly all of that activity existed in a gray zone, with no formal regulatory framework, no consumer protections, and no mechanism for the state to capture any benefit from the activity happening within its borders.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
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