News🚨 For eight years, Pakistan's #crypto market ran without a single bank account.

No formal banking access. No legal infrastructure. Just 27 million people trading through P2P platforms, offshore exchanges, and informal channels while the State Bank officially pretended none of it existed.

That changed on April 14, 2026.

SBP issued BPRD Circular No. 10, allowing licensed crypto firms to open bank accounts for the first time since 2018. The trigger was the Virtual Assets Act 2026, which created PVARA Pakistan's first dedicated crypto regulator. Binance and HTX have already received No Objection Certificates. The framework is live.

But this is not a blank check. Banks cannot trade, invest, or hold crypto with their own funds. Accounts must be rupee-denominated. Cash deposits are not allowed. And unlicensed operations now carry fines up to PKR 50 million plus five years in prison.

Pakistan processed $25 billion in crypto transactions last year. It ranks third globally in retail adoption. All of that happened under a ban.

The government did not create this market. It finally acknowledged one that already existed.

#pakistan #Crypto #SBP #PVARA #Bitcoin❗ #VirtualAssetsAct #BinanceSquareFamily