Pakistan Surges to Third-Place Crypto Ranking

Pakistan has emerged as the world's third-largest cryptocurrency market, according to Bilal bin Saqib, Chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA). With around 40 million people holding crypto accounts, this development highlights a significant gap between crypto users and registered taxpayers in the country.

The PVARA was established to regulate the rapidly expanding virtual assets sector and bring digital currency users into the tax net. Bilal mentioned that the authority has been recruiting permanent staff and has only used 8% of its government-allocated budget so far.

Pakistan aims to become a global leader in Islamic finance through digital assets, with plans to bring remittances from abroad onto digital platforms. Several international companies have applied for no-objection certificates to operate in Pakistan's digital assets sector, and the PVARA has established a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.