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Is Binance Legal in Pakistan? What Its PVARA NOC Means

Binance is not banned in Pakistan, and it holds a no-objection certificate from PVARA. That is not a licence. As of 30 September 2026, no crypto exchange in Pakistan has one.

Ammar Khan

Ammar Khan

3 min read
A hand pointing at a smartphone displaying currency quotes against a laptop.
Photo by Marga Santoso on Unsplash

Key takeaways

  • Binance holds a PVARA no-objection certificate (NOC), reported on 12 December 2025. An NOC is not a licence.
  • As of 30 September 2026, PVARA has licensed no crypto exchange, and it publishes no licensee register.
  • Under PVARA's 2025 NOC rules, Binance's licence application falls due around 21 November 2026. That is our reading; PVARA has not announced a date.
  • The Virtual Assets Act binds exchanges, not the people who use them.

Binance is not banned, but it is not licensed either. PVARA granted it a no-objection certificate in December 2025, alongside HTX. PVARA has said the certificates are not a full operating licence. As of 30 September 2026, full licensing is still not available, and no exchange holds a licence.

What the NOC is, and what it isn't

Arab News reported on 12 December 2025 that PVARA had granted NOCs to Binance and HTX, and that PVARA said they did not amount to a "full operating license". PVARA's own news page links to that report, under the headline "Pakistan Clears Global Crypto Exchanges Binance, HTX Under New Rules". On 30 September 2026 it was still the newest item on the page.

Clause 2.2 of PVARA's No Objection Certificate Regulations 2025 defines what an NOC does. It approves a firm's anti-money-laundering registration and permits it to incorporate a local company. Neither Binance nor HTX has publicly confirmed completing either step.

PVARA's licensing page still describes its requirements as applying "when full licensing becomes available". The public register of licensees that regulation 9(6) of the 2026 regulations requires does not exist yet: pvara.gov.pk/licensees and /register both return "not found".

When Binance has to apply for a licence

The 2025 rules require an NOC holder to submit its licence application within three months of PVARA issuing licensing regulations. PVARA notified the Pakistan Virtual Asset Services Regulations, 2026 on 21 August 2026, which puts the date around 21 November 2026. PVARA has not confirmed that reading, and a missed date triggers a written notice and at least 30 business days to respond, not an automatic loss of the NOC. We set out the full reasoning in Binance and HTX's PVARA licence deadline falls around 21 November.

Can Pakistanis use Binance?

The Virtual Assets Act, 2026 regulates the businesses that provide exchange, custody and transfer services. It does not regulate the people who use them, and there is no licence an individual needs to hold or sell crypto. We explain that scope in the Virtual Assets Act regulates businesses, not crypto holders.

The State Bank's 2018 instruction on virtual currencies was addressed to banks and payment firms. In a 2026 bail ruling, the Lahore High Court held that it "did not, by itself, create a penal offence against private individuals" (2026 LHC 4849, ¶25). In the same case, PVARA told the court that P2P transactions fall outside its mandate (¶13). So Binance P2P trades, where Pakistanis buy and sell USDT for rupees, have no regulator standing behind them.

What this means for Pakistani users

  • "PVARA licensed" is not a claim anyone can check yet. No register exists. If a platform or an agent says Binance is licensed in Pakistan, that is not what PVARA's own pages show as of 30 September 2026.
  • An NOC gives users no licence-based protection. The obligations sit with the exchange, and the outcome of its licence application may not be announced.
  • P2P is outside PVARA's mandate. If you trade through Binance P2P, escrow is the protection you have. We explained what Binance P2P escrow holds and when it releases.

Common questions

Is Binance banned in Pakistan?

No. Binance holds a PVARA no-objection certificate, and the Virtual Assets Act regulates exchanges rather than banning them.

HTX is in the same position as Binance: a PVARA NOC reported in December 2025, and no licence.

Which crypto exchanges are licensed in Pakistan?

None, as of 30 September 2026. Our PVARA licence tracker will record the first licence when PVARA issues one.

Is Bybit or OKX licensed in Pakistan?

We found no PVARA document naming either exchange when we checked on 6 September 2026. That is an absence, not a negative finding. See PVARA has no licence rule for crypto sellers yet.

What we're watching

  • Whether Binance or HTX announces a licence application before 21 November 2026, and whether PVARA acknowledges it.
  • Whether PVARA publishes the licensee register required by regulation 9(6).
  • The first NOC decisions under the 2026 regulations, due from early November.

Sources

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