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Pakistan Parliament Passes Virtual Assets Act 2026, Formalizes $300Bn Crypto Market

Pakistan's parliament passes the Virtual Assets Act 2026, giving PVARA (Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority) permanent statutory authority to license crypto exchanges and regulate the virtual asset industry. The law includes criminal penalties including jail time for violations. Pakistan's crypto market is estimated at $300 billion in cumulative inflows, with over 40 million users. This positions Pakistan as one of the first South Asian nations with comprehensive crypto legislation, beating India to formal crypto law.

High impact🇵🇰 PakistanRegulationLicensingBTCETHUSDTUSDC

APAC FINSTAB analysis

For APAC operators, this creates a high-impact signal around regulation, licensing in Pakistan. Protocols/assets in scope: BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC. Teams should monitor the original source, map the change to licensing, custody, disclosure, and market-access obligations, and update their jurisdiction playbooks before the next compliance review.

Compliance read-through: map this event to entity licensing, market-access, custody, disclosure, token listing, and operational-risk obligations before expanding or marketing in the affected jurisdiction.

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Maxine Waters Urges Labor Department To Withdraw Crypto 401k Alternative Assets Proposal

House Financial Services ranking member Maxine Waters asked the U.S. Department of Labor to withdraw a proposed safe harbor for alternative assets in 401(k) plans, including digital assets. The comment keeps crypto retirement-account access under investor-protection and fiduciary-duty scrutiny.

Medium impact🇺🇸 United StatesRegulationAMLBTCETH
APAC FINSTAB analysis → Original source ↗