By Admin 
The current uproar over crypto currency in Pakistan seems no less than a story of economic terror. On one hand, the entire country is struggling with historic inflation, dwindling foreign exchange reserves and uncontrolled economy, while on the other hand, common Pakistani citizens are looking for some support to save their savings from sinking. Crypto currency has filled this void. But this has become the biggest headache for the government and the State Bank. After all, how did this chaos become so big and what is going on inside the neighboring country…
Why did the common Pakistani run towards crypto?
It starts with the deteriorating economy of Pakistan. The Pakistani rupee has continuously weakened in the last few years. The inflation rate has crossed 30 percent several times. When this is the condition of a country’s currency, it is natural for people to lose confidence in it. People want their savings to be kept in a safe place, but keeping money in Pakistani banks means its value continuously falling according to inflation.
According to Pakistani media Dawn, investing in real estate or gold in Pakistan is not for everyone. In such a situation, crypto, especially stable coins like Bitcoin and USDT (Tether), have emerged as an alternative safe haven. Pakistan has consistently been included in the top-10 countries in Chainalysis’ ‘Global Crypto Adoption Index’ report. This shows how fast common Pakistanis are adopting crypto.
Why did crypto currency become an thorn in the eye of the government?
The stance of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is very strict. SBP has repeatedly said that no crypto currency has been given legal recognition in Pakistan. But just saying it doesn’t help. In fact, crypto has become a major source of ‘black money’ for the government of Pakistan. Pakistan is currently in talks with the IMF for another bailout package. IMF has already made it clear that Pakistan will have to bring transparency in its financial transactions and curb money laundering and terrorism financing.
According to the report of Arab News, the entire structure of crypto is decentralization, meaning neither the government has control over it nor its transactions can be easily tracked. This makes it difficult for the government to collect taxes and a large part of the foreign exchange starts going out through unregulated channels. According to Pakistani media, every year crypto currency worth billions of dollars is bought and sold in Pakistan through P2P (Peer-to-Peer) platforms, over which the government has no control.
How did the crypto uproar spark?
According to Dr. Rajan Kumar, foreign affairs expert and JNU professor, there are 3 recent and concrete incidents behind the uproar over crypto in Pakistan at the beginning of this year:
- Repressive actions and arrests: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) started massive raids a few months ago. People running crypto exchanges were arrested in many cities. He was accused of sending dollars out of the country illegally. This was no small action, it shook the entire crypto community.
- Digital Frauds and Scams: The biggest problem with crypto in Pakistan is lack of awareness. In 2025, many such online platforms were caught in big cities like Karachi and Lahore which made away with crores of rupees by luring people of huge profits in crypto. These scams cost the common people crores of rupees and led to protests on the streets. This gave the government an opportunity to take a more strict stance against crypto.
- Power crisis and crypto mining: Pakistan is already facing severe shortage of electricity. Meanwhile, the government claimed that illegal crypto mining farms are running on a large scale in many parts of the country including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. They are being run by stealing electricity. After this, the administration seized a large number of mining machines and disconnected the connections. This gave rise to a new type of economic crime.
So is the crypto game over in Pakistan?
it’s not like that at all. No matter how much uproar there is, the ground reality is that there has been no break in the pace of crypto in Pakistan. The reason for this is the crisis of trust. People neither trust government policies nor the traditional banking system. Even after the action of FIA, people are doing crypto transactions underground through P2P networks and WhatsApp-Telegram groups.
Experts say that the Pakistani government itself is in a dilemma. She knows that it is impossible to ban it completely. Therefore, there are reports that the Pakistan government is now trying to bring a regulatory framework on the lines of Singapore and Dubai. With this, crypto will be brought under legal ambit and tax will be collected on it.
The current tussle that is going on tells the story of a country where crypto currency has become a battlefield between the weakness of the state and the helplessness of the people. This uproar is not showing any signs of stopping.