Crypto Exchanges
By Steven Anderson
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What Licensed VASPs Must Actually Do. Customer funds have to stay separate from company assets. Full stop.
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Binance and HTX Already Have a Head Start. PVARA didn't wait for the portal launch to start approving firms.
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A Public Consultation Shaped the Rules. The framework didn't get drafted in a vacuum. PVARA ran a public consultation from June 11 to July…
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Pakistan just drew a hard line. The country's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority — PVARA — has told every crypto exchange and virtual asset service provider operating in the…
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The deadline isn't coming out of nowhere. PVARA opened a formal licensing portal, and with it came a full regulatory framework covering pretty much every corner of the crypto…
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Licensed firms face a fairly demanding set of conditions.
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Customer funds have to stay separate from company assets. Full stop. VASPs can't lend or pledge those funds without written consent from clients — a rule that echoes post-FTX…
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It's a substantial compliance burden, especially for smaller players. Whether mid-sized local exchanges can staff up fast enough to meet all of it by September 5 is unclear.
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PVARA didn't wait for the portal launch to start approving firms. Binance and HTX both received preliminary NOCs ahead of the full enforcement rollout.
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Related: SECs Reg Crypto Proposal Seeks Industry Input on New Transparency Rules
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The regulatory push traces back to the Virtual Assets Act, passed in March. That legislation created PVARA as the official body overseeing Pakistan's crypto sector, giving it the…
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And the State Bank of Pakistan moved alongside PVARA. Once the Act passed, the central bank gave licensed VASPs access to banking services — including segregated client-money…
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The framework didn't get drafted in a vacuum. PVARA ran a public consultation from June 11 to July 2, pulling in feedback before finalizing the rules.
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Pakistan's crypto market has grown fast, driven partly by a young population, high remittance flows, and patchy access to traditional financial services.
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More context: Nigeria’s SEC Proposes ₦2 Billion Capital Requirement for Crypto Exchanges
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