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Bilal bin Saqib

بلال بن ثاقب

Minister of State; Chairman, Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority

PakistanRegulator

About

Bilal Bin Saqib is a British-Pakistani entrepreneur turned policymaker, born in Lahore in 1990. He studied at Queen Mary University of London and holds a master's in social innovation and entrepreneurship from the London School of Economics. He co-founded Tayaba, a social enterprise working on Pakistan's water crisis, and was made an MBE in 2023 for feeding NHS workers during COVID-19. Forbes also listed him in its 30 Under 30 Asia.

He chairs the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) with the status of Minister of State, and says he serves pro bono. PVARA was set up by ordinance in July 2025 and put on a statutory footing by the Virtual Assets Act in March 2026. It licenses and supervises virtual asset service providers. He took the PVARA chair in December 2025, when he stepped down as the Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Blockchain and Crypto.

In 2025 he was the founding CEO of the Pakistan Crypto Council. At Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas he announced a government-led Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a plan to allocate 2,000 MW of surplus power to Bitcoin mining and AI data centres. At PVARA he has granted preliminary clearances to Binance and HTX and put licensing regulations in place. PVARA has also warned financial institutions that stablecoin and tokenisation pilots need its prior authorisation. He presents this as a shift from Pakistan's 2018 restrictions to a licensing regime.

Policy engagement

Chairs PVARA, which licenses virtual asset service providers under the Virtual Assets Act 2026; in August 2026 he argued that Pakistan's 2018 restrictions had pushed activity to offshore platforms.

Source: The Nation, 26 Aug 2026

Key actions

  1. At a forum in Tashkent, argued that Pakistan's 2018 crypto restrictions had pushed activity offshore, and pointed to the Virtual Assets Act, 2026 and PVARA's licensing portal.

    Source

  2. PVARA, under his chairmanship, granted no objection certificates to Binance and HTX so they could begin local licensing steps.

    Source

  3. Announced Pakistan's first government-led Strategic Bitcoin Reserve at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas.

    Source

  4. Appointed Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Blockchain and Crypto with the status of a minister.

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  5. Became the founding CEO of the Pakistan Crypto Council, which was launched under the Ministry of Finance.

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Also in Pakistan