{"id":47853,"date":"2026-04-15T18:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T18:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=47853"},"modified":"2026-04-15T18:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T18:05:09","slug":"sbp-opens-formal-banking-to-licensed-virtual-asset-service-providers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=47853","title":{"rendered":"SBP opens formal banking to licensed virtual asset service providers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has allowed banks to open accounts for licensed virtual asset service \u200bproviders, overriding a 2018 ban,\u00a0as the country moves to integrate digital assets into the regulated financial system.<\/p>\n<p>The \u200bmove followed the enactment of the Virtual Assets Act, \u200b2026, and marks Pakistan\u2019s first formal step toward bringing \u2060crypto-related businesses into the banking system under strict anti-money-laundering \u200band compliance rules.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a foundational step in bringing virtual assets \u200binto the formal financial system of Pakistan,&#8221; Bilal bin Saqib, the chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), said in a\u00a0statement \u200bon Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>For nearly eight years, Pakistan&#8217;s virtual asset sector had activity but no lawful banking rails. That changes now.<\/p>\n<p>With @StateBank_Pak enabling banks to open accounts for PVARA-licensed providers, Pakistan has moved from restriction to regulation, and from ambiguity to\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/JXEOl4vJSp<br \/>\n\u2014 Bilal bin Saqib MBE (@Bilalbinsaqib) April 15, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Banks must verify licences issued by the newly established \u200bPVARA before onboarding firms and maintain segregated, non-interest-bearing \u200cclient \u2060accounts in rupees, the SBP\u00a0said.<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan has taken an important step toward formalising its virtual asset ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>Following the enactment of the Virtual Assets Act, 2026, the State Bank of Pakistan has issued BPRD Circular Letter No. 10 of 2026, enabling regulated entities to open and maintain bank accounts\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/cuUhwSiCfS<br \/>\n\u2014 Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (@PakistanVARA) April 14, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Read More: Saudi Arabia pledges $3b additional support, extends $5b deposit: finance minister<\/p>\n<p>Banks will remain responsible for due diligence, risk profiling and reporting suspicious transactions, the central bank said, adding that lenders cannot invest \u200bin or hold \u200bvirtual assets using \u2060their own or customer funds.<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan has already moved to bring in global crypto players, signing \u200ba memorandum of understanding with Binance in December \u200bto \u2060explore tokenising up to $2 billion in assets and granting initial clearances to Binance and HTX to begin licensing.<\/p>\n<p>It also struck a \u2060deal \u200bwith an affiliate of World Liberty \u200bFinancial in January to explore stablecoin-based, cross-border payments.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has allowed banks to open accounts for licensed virtual asset service \u200bproviders, overriding a 2018 ban,\u00a0as the country moves to integrate digital assets into the regulated financial system. The \u200bmove followed the enactment of the Virtual Assets Act, \u200b2026, and marks Pakistan\u2019s first formal step toward bringing \u2060crypto-related businesses [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47853\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}