Published on, Aug. 27 -- August 27, 2025 7:15 AM

The Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), in its first board meeting on Tuesday, deliberated on withdrawing the State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) 2018 ban on virtual currencies while setting out a roadmap for AI-driven risk management, licensing, and regulatory frameworks.

PVARA board, in its meeting in Islamabad, "discussed the withdrawal of BPRD Circular No. 03 of 2018, issued by the SBP, which had directed financial institutions to refrain from dealing in virtual currencies and tokens," read an official statement.

As per the SBP circular, virtual currencies (VCs) like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Pakcoin, OneCoin, DasCoin, Pay Diamond etc. or Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) tokens are...