Pakistan Begins Licensing Applications for Cryptocurrency Operators, Registration Required by September 5

Pakistan's PVARA (Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority) opened a licensing application portal for cryptocurrency-related businesses on August 23, 2026 (Sunday).

Companies that have been providing virtual asset services in the country since before March 5 must apply for an NOC (No Objection Certificate) by September 5 or cease operations. This also puts pressure on foreign operators wishing to continue their business in the Pakistani market.

Wide Scope from Exchanges to Token Issuance

This system is based on the 2026 Virtual Assets Act, and PVARA states that continuing operations without applying after the deadline will be considered a violation.

The scope is not limited to cryptocurrency exchanges. It also includes custody, broker-dealer services, advisory, lending and borrowing, derivatives, discretionary asset management, remittance and payment, mining infrastructure, and the issuance of asset-pegged tokens and single fiat currency-pegged tokens. Companies can apply in multiple categories.

Applications will require corporate registration under Pakistan's Companies Act 2017 and minimum paid-up capital for each category. Additionally, eligibility checks for directors and key employees, anti-money laundering measures, customer verification, transaction monitoring, suspicious transaction reporting, cybersecurity measures, and business continuity plans will also be required.

Even after approval, operational rules will be strict, requiring customer assets to be stored separately from the company's assets. Without written consent from customers, these assets cannot be lent or used as collateral.

Foreign Exchanges Also Required to Establish Local Entities

There are routes for obtaining an NOC and testing services in a regulatory sandbox before obtaining a formal license.

Companies that obtain an NOC must then proceed to register with Pakistan's financial supervisory authority and establish a local subsidiary to apply for a formal license. Therefore, even cryptocurrency exchanges based abroad will need to establish local entities if they wish to continue providing services to users in Pakistan.

Binance and HTX have already obtained their NOCs. Bilal Bin Saqib, chairman of PVARA, explained that this framework is designed to protect investors from fraud and bring the market under the law. At the same time, he expressed expectations for the regulation to extend beyond exchanges to include remittances through stablecoins and tokenization, export financing, and lending to small and medium-sized enterprises.

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