FATF's crypto table: Pakistan has the law, but no inspections
In its latest yearly check on how countries regulate crypto firms, published in July, the global money-laundering watchdog lists 68 jurisdictions. Of 57 jurisdictions with a licensing law, Pakistan was the only one to report neither an inspection of a crypto firm nor any enforcement action.
Key takeaways
- FATF's July 2026 table covers 68 jurisdictions. 57 of them report a law requiring crypto firms to be licensed or registered.
- Pakistan is the only one of those 57 to answer "No" both on inspecting crypto firms and on taking enforcement action against them.
- Pakistan reports a risk assessment, a licensing law, stablecoin rules and the travel rule.
- Pakistan's rating on FATF's crypto standard is "partially compliant", from an assessment in 2020, before the current law.
What FATF published
The Financial Action Task Force, which sets global standards against money laundering and terrorist financing, publishes a yearly update on how countries apply its rules to virtual assets. Those rules sit in its Recommendation 15. The July 2026 update, the seventh, ends with a table of FATF members and other jurisdictions with "materially important" crypto activity. Pakistan is one of the 68 listed.
The table asks seven yes-or-no questions of each jurisdiction, and gives its formal rating where it has one. Pakistan's answers:
| FATF question | Pakistan |
|---|---|
| Has conducted a risk assessment covering virtual assets and VASPs | Yes |
| Has explicitly prohibited virtual assets and VASPs | No |
| Has a law requiring VASPs to be licensed or registered and apply AML/CFT measures | Yes |
| Has required stablecoin issuers to be licensed or registered | Yes |
| Has conducted a supervisory inspection, or included VASPs in its current inspection plan | No |
| Has taken enforcement or other supervisory action against VASPs | No |
| Has passed or enacted the travel rule | Yes |
| Rating on Recommendation 15 | Partially compliant (2020) |
The two "No" answers
The table lists 57 jurisdictions with a licensing or registration law. Pakistan is the only one of them to answer "No" to both the inspection question and the enforcement question.
Three others had not completed an inspection. Cambodia, Ireland, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines answered "In progress", and all three reported enforcement action. Four, Belgium, Brazil, Venezuela and the British Virgin Islands, reported no enforcement action but had inspected. India, the UAE and Nigeria answered "Yes" to every question in both columns. Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia reported that they prohibit crypto firms, so the questions did not apply to them.
The inspection question is broad. It counts a jurisdiction that has merely "included VASPs in its current inspection plan", not only one that has carried out an inspection. Pakistan answered "No" to that too.
Why the answers may already be dated
The answers are self-reported. FATF says the columns are based on a survey of its global network "conducted from February to June 2026". That window matters for Pakistan.
The Virtual Assets Act 2026 was gazetted on 5 March, in the middle of the survey. The detailed licensing rules, the Virtual Asset Services Regulations, were not notified until 21 August, after it closed. Those regulations require licensees to follow the travel rule, which makes firms pass on sender and recipient details with transfers.
There is also nothing yet to inspect in the formal sense. As of our last check on 2 October, PVARA had licensed no company. Binance and HTX hold No Objection Certificates, which are not licences, and their applications fall due around 21 November. Our licence tracker follows each one.
The rating is older still. "Partially compliant" dates from 2020, six years before the Act. FATF's own note says ratings "may not reflect the current progress" of a jurisdiction.
How Pakistan compares
Globally, FATF reports slow improvement. Of 149 jurisdictions assessed, 34% are now "largely compliant" with Recommendation 15, up from 29% in 2025, and 43% are "partially compliant", down from 50%. On the travel rule, 83% of respondents said they had passed legislation, but FATF adds that almost half of those have not yet taken any supervisory or enforcement action under it.
That last point is the wider pattern Pakistan sits in: rules written, supervision still to come. Pakistan's answers put it at the start of that line. It has the law, the stablecoin rules and the travel rule on paper, and reported no supervisory activity at all.
What this means for Pakistani users
- No crypto firm in Pakistan is being supervised yet. Not one is licensed, and Pakistan told FATF it had not inspected one. Any exchange or P2P platform you use today is outside formal oversight.
- The rules are coming, not here. Licensing, the travel rule and AML checks will apply to licensed firms. Until then, a platform's own policies are your only protection.
- Expect more identity checks later. The travel rule means licensed firms will have to collect and pass on sender and recipient details. If a platform asks for more information once it is licensed, this is why.
- This is not a verdict on any exchange. The table describes Pakistan's system, not any single company.
What we're watching
- Whether PVARA publishes an inspection plan or its first supervisory action once licences are issued.
- Pakistan's row in FATF's 2027 table, which will be the first survey taken after the regulations.
- When Pakistan is next formally assessed on Recommendation 15, which would replace the 2020 rating.
Sources
- FATF, Targeted Update on Implementation of the FATF Standards on Virtual Assets and VASPs, July 2026, including the table of jurisdictions with materially important VASP activity and its notes.
- PVARA, S.R.O. 1419(I)/2026, Pakistan Virtual Asset Services Regulations 2026, Gazette of Pakistan, 21 August 2026, regulation 100 (travel rule).
- Virtual Assets Act 2026 (Act No. XIII of 2026), Gazette of Pakistan Extraordinary, 5 March 2026, as covered in Is crypto legal in Pakistan?
- CryptoPakistan, PVARA licence tracker, checked 2 October 2026.
