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Pakistan State Bank Formally Allows Licensed VASPs to Access Banking Services

State Bank of Pakistan issued BPRD Circular Letter No. 10 of 2026, replacing 2018 virtual-currency prohibition and enabling regulated entities with PVARA NOC (No Objection Certificate) to open bank accounts for crypto trading and customer operations. The circular marks formal integration of virtual asset service providers into Pakistan's banking system after months of regulatory sandbox testing. Major step for South Asia's crypto adoption with 40+ million users.

High impact🇵🇰 PakistanRegulationLicensingExchangeBTCETHUSDTState Bank of PakistanPVARA

APAC FINSTAB analysis

For APAC operators, this creates a high-impact signal around regulation, licensing, exchange in Pakistan. Protocols/assets in scope: BTC, ETH, USDT. Named institutions or platforms: State Bank of Pakistan, PVARA. 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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APAC FINSTAB analysis → Original source ↗