Eighteen years ago today, an unknown programmer emailed a nine-page paper that became Bitcoin. Here is what it actually says, where to read it in Urdu, and how the idea looks from Pakistan this week.
FTX filed for bankruptcy on 11 November 2022. Four years on, Sam Bankman-Fried is asking the US Supreme Court to hear his case, and the government's answer is due on 16 November. Pakistan has its own link to the collapse. Its creditors were on a list of countries whose payouts FTX's estate once prop
Pakistan's new crypto regulations set out what a licensed exchange may do with a wallet nobody has touched. After a year it can be marked dormant and withdrawals blocked until you reactivate it. After ten years the coins are meant to go to a state-linked custodian, but not until rules protecting the
Binance says attackers took about $6.3 billion from its wallets and that it will cover every dollar. Withdrawals are paused. On its rupee P2P market, USDT is now about Rs3 cheaper than on Bybit's. Here is what we know, what Pakistan's rules would demand of a licensed exchange, and what to do if your
The committee that runs Pakistan's anti-money-laundering policy has approved adding the crypto regulator to the list of AML supervisors in the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Once the government notifies it, PVARA gets the Act's powers to inspect, demand records and fine crypto firms over money-launderin
The State Bank rewrote its rules for freelancers' dollar accounts in April, promising one-day processing and letting them keep at least $5,000 a month in dollars. Some freelancers take USDT instead, which has traded about 3% above the official rate, before fees. Here is what each route gives you, an
The IMF's latest financial stability report devotes a chapter to tokenisation and names four things that hold it back. Pakistan, which wants to tokenise state assets, has started on two. Its own law leaves open who would regulate a tokenised bond.
Jack Dorsey's Block has shown Dessa, an AI model trained only on recorded speech that listens and talks at the same time and runs on a laptop. It is not public yet. Here is what Block says it does, what is still unknown, and why it matters for how we will use AI.
Dubai's regulator has given Bybit a full licence, but only for spot exchange services, not the derivatives the platform is known for. In Pakistan, where Bybit is one of the two P2P venues behind our live rupee price, no crypto platform is licensed yet.
Google now accepts Dubai's crypto licence for exchange ads aimed at the UAE. Neither Google's nor Meta's crypto ad rules list Pakistan or PVARA, which has licensed no one. Here is what that means for the crypto promotions in your feed.
A new IMF working paper estimates that people in Pakistan held about $5.8 billion in stablecoins at the end of 2025, roughly 1.4% of GDP. It also finds that stablecoin use jumps when countries restrict capital outflows or suffer currency crises, and stays high afterwards.
Pakistan has agreed with Binance to explore tokenising up to $2 billion of state assets, and PVARA says its sandbox is testing gold and property. Its rules already say what a token issued under them needs: full backing, a licensed custodian, a whitepaper and redemption.
Binance has launched a $1 million rewards campaign it says covers Pakistan, including prizes for futures trading and referrals. Pakistan's crypto rules require some exchanges still waiting for a licence to get PVARA's approval before marketing. Nobody has said whether that applies here.
Every day in September, buying USDT with rupees on peer-to-peer markets cost more than the official dollar rate. The extra averaged 2.65%, about Rs7,300 on every 1,000 USDT, and rose late in the month. This is the first edition of our monthly report on the gap.
No Pakistani law bans you from holding or trading USDT, and no regulator licenses the people who sell it to you. Using it to pay for things at home is a different matter. Here is what the Virtual Assets Act, PVARA's rules and the State Bank actually say.
