Pakistan’s federal government officially launched the Pakistan Crypto Council on March 14, 2025, creating a national forum intended to develop policy for blockchain technology and digital assets.
The council placed Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb in the chair and named Bilal Bin Saqib, then chief adviser to the finance minister on the council, as chief executive. Its immediate board included the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, the federal law secretary and the federal information-technology secretary.
That composition made the launch more consequential than an industry advisory announcement. It brought the institutions responsible for monetary stability, securities oversight, legislation and technology policy into the same government-backed structure. The launch nevertheless did not itself legalize cryptocurrency, authorize an exchange, approve a token or establish a licensing regime.
From institutional caution to policy coordination
The council followed a Finance Division meeting on February 25, 2025, at which officials discussed establishing a national body to oversee policy development and regulatory questions. The ministry said that any framework should address security, transparency, financial crime, economic viability and consistency with international standards.
Pakistan’s regulated financial sector entered the March 14 launch under longstanding restrictions. In an April 18, 2018 circular, the State Bank of Pakistan said virtual currencies were not legal tender, were not issued or guaranteed by the government, and had not been authorized or licensed by the central bank. Exchange companies were instructed not to process, hold, trade or facilitate customer transactions involving virtual currencies or initial-coin-offering tokens.
The March 14 announcement did not rescind that circular. Its importance was instead directional: the government created a mechanism for considering how a formal framework might replace fragmented or incomplete treatment of digital assets.
What the council was assigned to do
Contemporaneous government accounts said the council would formulate regulatory policies, engage public- and private-sector stakeholders, encourage blockchain innovation and seek a compliant environment for investors and businesses. Aurangzeb presented the initiative as an effort to accommodate innovation while protecting investors and the financial system.
Those descriptions were statements of mandate and intent, not completed regulatory provisions. No surviving launch-day record reviewed for this reconstruction sets licensing criteria, capital requirements, custody standards, token-classification rules, tax treatment or consumer-redress procedures. The records also do not establish a launch-day budget, statutory enforcement authority or implementation timetable.
The measured interpretation is therefore institutional. On March 14, 2025, Pakistan moved digital-asset policy into a cabinet-level coordination structure, but the operational rules remained to be written. For exchanges, banks, token issuers and users, the difference between forming a council and adopting enforceable law was material.
Evidence and limitations
Radio Pakistan and the Associated Press of Pakistan reported the launch on March 14, both identifying the council’s leadership and policy purpose. Dawn’s March 15 report independently reproduced the Finance Division’s description and board composition. These records establish the event and the government’s stated objectives, but they do not demonstrate market adoption or immediate changes in access to cryptocurrency services.
No price, trading-volume, ownership or on-chain claim is attached to the event because the reviewed sources do not provide a reproducible event-day dataset for those measures.
Later context
On March 21, 2025, the Finance Division recorded the council’s inaugural meeting. Officials discussed regulatory clarity, licensing, consumer protection, pilot programs, international obligations and a possible national blockchain policy. That later record confirms that the March 14 launch began a policy-development process rather than completing one; it is included only to clarify the institution’s initial function.
The complete source packet and revision history are retained with the newsroom record.
Automated systems may have assisted with source organization and drafting. Coinburn is accountable for the published text and maintains a revision record.
This article provides news and analysis, not investment, legal or tax advice. Digital assets are volatile and may result in total loss.