The FATF wants faster action on crypto rules. Here is where Pakistan stands

Key takeaways

• At its plenary in Paris on 28–30 October, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) agreed to launch a "targeted review" of how countries apply its standards on virtual assets.
• The review will focus on jurisdictions with "materially important" crypto activity, "based on their current assessment status". The FATF has not published a list. Results come in June and October 2027.
• Pakistan is one of 68 jurisdictions in the FATF's July table of countries with materially important crypto activity. That table showed no inspection of, and no enforcement against, a crypto firm here.
• Pakistan is not on the FATF's grey list published on 30 October. Four countries left it.

What the FATF decided

The FATF sets the global standards against money laundering and terrorist financing. Its rules for crypto firms sit in Recommendation 15. On 30 October it said, in its plenary outcomes, that it had "agreed to significantly accelerate the effective implementation" of those standards "in jurisdictions with materially important VA activity".

In a separate notice, it said implementation "remains uneven across the global network" and that criminals continue to exploit "implementation gaps". The new process has three parts:

• A targeted review, "primarily focused on jurisdictions with materially important VASP activity (MIVA), based on their current assessment status". The FATF says it will use "objective criteria". It has not said what they are.
• Accelerated follow-up and reporting for the jurisdictions reviewed, which the FATF says is meant to "reinforce accountability, enhance transparency, and drive timely action".
• Support. The FATF asks donors and technical-assistance providers to "prioritise support for jurisdictions facing significant R.15 implementation challenges".

"Initial results from the targeted review will be published in June 2027, with further results to be published in October 2027," the notice says.

The same plenary removed Bulgaria, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Monaco from the grey list, the FATF's list of "jurisdictions under increased monitoring". The list published on 30 October names 22 jurisdictions. Pakistan is not among them.

Where Pakistan stands

The FATF has not said whether Pakistan will be reviewed. But Pakistan fits the description it gives. In its July 2026 update, the FATF listed 68 FATF members and other jurisdictions with "materially important" crypto activity, and Pakistan is one of them. Its rating against Recommendation 15 in that table is "PC", partially compliant, from 2020.

We went through that table in October. Pakistan reported a risk assessment, a licensing law and the "travel rule", which makes crypto firms pass sender and recipient details along with a transfer. Of the 57 jurisdictions that reported a licensing law, Pakistan was the only one to answer "No" both on inspecting crypto firms and on taking enforcement action against them.

That is our reading of where a review would look. It is not the FATF's.

The gap has an obvious explanation: there is no one to inspect. PVARA counts 75 applications but has licensed no one, and its rules require a public register of licensees that does not yet exist. Binance and HTX, which hold no-objection certificates, face a licence-application deadline around 21 November.

The other change: PVARA as a money-laundering supervisor

On 27 October, the day before the plenary opened, Pakistan's National Executive Committee on AML-CFT approved adding PVARA to Schedule IV of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010. Every regulator on that schedule gets the Act's powers to license, inspect, demand information from and penalise the firms it oversees. We explained what those powers are.

The government still has to notify the change. We could not find a notification as of 2 November.

The FATF's statements do not mention Pakistan or this decision, and the Finance Division did not link the two. They are separate steps that happen to point the same way: towards a crypto regulator that can inspect and sanction.

What this means for Pakistani users

• Nothing changes for you today. The FATF sets standards for governments. It does not regulate exchanges or individual users, and its review does not touch your account.
• Expect more checks, not fewer. The FATF's direction is towards supervision that is used: inspections, reports to the Financial Monitoring Unit and penalties. Once exchanges here are licensed, expect more identity checks and more questions about large or unusual transfers.
• The "travel rule" is already in Pakistan's answers to the FATF. When you send crypto from a licensed exchange, your name and the recipient's details will travel with it.
• The grey list is not in play here. Pakistan is not on it, and the FATF did not say the virtual-asset review leads to listing.

What we're watching

• Whether the FATF publishes the criteria for its review, or a list of jurisdictions, before June 2027.
• The notification adding PVARA to Schedule IV of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
• PVARA's first licence and its public register. Until both exist, the inspection column in the FATF's table cannot change.

Sources

• FATF, Outcomes FATF Plenary October 2026, 30 October 2026.
• FATF, Launch of targeted review process to accelerate global implementation of FATF Standards relating to virtual assets, 30 October 2026.
• FATF, Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring – 30 October 2026.
• FATF, Seventh Targeted Update on Implementation of the FATF Standards on Virtual Assets/VASPs, July 2026, Annex A.
• Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, section 6A and Schedule IV.