Pakistan Seeks Remittance Savings through Regulated Stablecoins

Pakistan is exploring the use of regulated stablecoins to reduce remittance costs and potentially save $400 million annually. According to Bilal bin Saqib, Chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), a one-percentage-point reduction in transaction costs could make a significant difference.

The proposal forms part of a broader government push to develop use cases for virtual assets, including cross-border payments and tokenized financial assets. The current global market value of stablecoins is over $300 billion, with tens of billions of USD worth of traditional assets already tokenized on the blockchain infrastructure.

Pakistan has formally opened the licensing process for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), marking a major step towards integrating the country with the global digital asset economy. Existing virtual asset service providers are required to submit applications for a No-Objection Certificate by September 5, 2026, or cease operations.