Pakistan has opened its formal cryptocurrency licensing regime, giving existing virtual-asset service providers until September 5, 2026, to submit regulatory applications or stop operating in the country.
The Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, or PVARA, notified its final licensing regulations on August 21 and opened applications for No Objection Certificates, full VASP licences and its regulatory sandbox.
The immediate September 5 deadline applies specifically to “transitional persons” — businesses that were already providing virtual-asset services in Pakistan on or before March 5, 2026, when the Virtual Assets Act took effect.
Under Section 70 of the Act, those firms must submit an NOC application by the deadline or cease operations. Continuing to operate without having submitted an application after September 5 constitutes an offence.
The requirement potentially captures exchanges, custodians, brokers and other international crypto businesses serving Pakistani customers even if they have not yet established a locally incorporated entity.
Firms Must Disclose Owners, Finances and Security Controls
PVARA’s application process requires substantially more than basic corporate registration.
An NOC applicant must submit a detailed business plan explaining its proposed virtual-asset services, alongside corporate documents including its certificate of incorporation and memorandum and articles of association.
Companies must identify directors, shareholders and beneficial owners and provide Fit & Proper declarations covering key personnel.
PVARA also requires evidence of financial capability and source of funds, a draft anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing framework, and documentation covering technology infrastructure and cybersecurity.
The NOC represents an intermediate step rather than the final operating licence. Under PVARA’s NOC-to-Licence pathway, an applicant first obtains preliminary authorization, completes registration with Pakistan‘s Financial Monitoring Unit and other applicable regulatory requirements, establishes a Pakistani subsidiary under the Companies Act 2017 and then applies for its full VASP licence.
Full licence applicants must be companies registered in Pakistan and satisfy minimum paid-up capital requirements applicable to their activities.
PVARA currently lists 11 individual licence categories, including exchange, custody, broker-dealer, advisory, lending and borrowing, derivatives, virtual-asset management, transfer and settlement, asset-referenced token issuance, fiat-referenced token issuance and mining-related services.
Pakistan Moves From Crypto Restrictions to Regulated Banking Access
The licensing regime represents a rapid reversal in Pakistan’s treatment of the cryptocurrency industry. PVARA became a permanent statutory regulator in March. The State Bank of Pakistan then issued Circular No. 10 on April 14, allowing regulated financial institutions to provide banking services to PVARA-licensed virtual-asset businesses, including segregated Client Money Accounts.
Pakistan subsequently held a public consultation on its proposed VASP rules between June 11 and July 2 before notifying the final Pakistan Virtual Asset Services Regulations and activity-specific regulations on August 21.
The finalized framework also introduces customer-asset protections. Licensed providers must segregate client holdings from their own assets and cannot lend or pledge customer assets without written consent.
Compliance obligations extend beyond licensing. PVARA says regulated businesses must maintain transaction and customer records for at least 10 years, conduct sanctions screening and report suspicious activity to the Financial Monitoring Unit.
The September 5 deadline therefore does not require existing firms to have completed the entire licensing process by that date. Instead, they must enter the regulatory system by submitting their NOC application.
For exchanges already serving Pakistani customers, the choice is consequently immediate: provide PVARA with the required corporate, ownership, financial, AML and technology documentation and begin the path toward local licensing, or withdraw from Pakistan before the transitional window closes.
