Pakistan gives crypto firms 12 days to enter licensing process

Pakistan’s virtual asset licensing portal went live August 24, and the clock was already running. Existing providers have until September 5, 2026, to file a no-objection certificate application or stop operating, according to Cointelegraph’s report; measured from the portal’s August 24 opening, that is a 12-day interval. Operating past that cutoff without an application on file will constitute an offense, PVARA says.

The Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority framed the opening in formal language. “The licensing window is officially open, creating a clear pathway for businesses to enter Pakistan’s regulated virtual asset market, with defined standards for consumer protection, governance, compliance and market integrity,” the authority said, according to Cointelegraph. The available material consists of secondary reports and does not specify penalties beyond labeling continued operation without a filed application as an offense, and it does not identify how many firms are currently active in the country.

Two routes exist for getting licensed. A firm can seek an NOC before it even incorporates locally, or it can enter a regulatory sandbox to test products under PVARA supervision. Neither option shifts the September 5 math for anyone already in the market.

The rules reach exchanges, custody providers, broker-dealers, lenders, derivatives services, asset managers, token issuers and mining-related services, per Cointelegraph. Governance, market conduct, cybersecurity, operational resilience, AML and counter-terrorism financing controls are all required. On client funds: licensed providers must hold them separately and cannot lend or pledge those assets without written customer consent.

Firms that have not applied by September 5 must cease operations — they cannot keep running while waiting to apply. How quickly submitted applications will be reviewed, or at what point an NOC application converts to approval, the available secondary reports do not say.

From law to enforcement

Parliament passed the Virtual Assets Act in March, creating PVARA as the statutory regulator, per Cointelegraph. A public consultation ran June 11 through July 2, and the final framework followed from there.

Dawn reported that PVARA described its own timeline as: “In under six months, Pakistan has moved from primary legislation to notified regulations and an open licensing process.” Dawn also quoted PVARA’s instruction directly: “Existing virtual asset service providers must submit their NOC applications by Sept 5, 2026 or cease operations.”

PVARA had issued NOCs to Binance and HTX in December 2025, according to Cointelegraph, before the current portal existed. The September 5 deadline extends that requirement to existing providers broadly, as this article reads the general deadline alongside those earlier NOCs.

The Ministry of Finance has spearheaded and managed the crypto-assets sector, per Dawn. It helped establish the Pakistan Crypto Council and stood up PVARA as an autonomous regulator, moving the structure from coordination to statutory enforcement.

Banking access comes with limits

After PVARA’s framework took shape, the State Bank of Pakistan allowed banks to open accounts for licensed VASPs — including segregated client-money accounts — according to Cointelegraph. Dawn reported that the State Bank formally replaced its earlier restrictions on virtual currencies with instructions permitting regulated banks to serve PVARA-licensed providers and their customers.

The banking change carries conditions. Banks must maintain separate, non-remunerative rupee client accounts for licensed providers, and financial institutions must apply AML, KYC and risk-profiling standards, per Dawn.

What banks cannot do is equally defined. They’re barred from trading, investing in or holding virtual assets with their own capital or customer deposits. Their role is limited to banking rails and transaction monitoring for authorized operators — licensing opens a fiat interface for providers, but it doesn’t authorize banks to take proprietary virtual-asset positions.