Pakistan’s top digital asset regulator is calling for a more nuanced approach to evaluating cryptocurrency under Islamic law, following a meeting with one of the country’s most influential religious scholars whose recent ruling cast doubt on the legitimacy of crypto-based transactions.
Bilal bin Saqib, chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), announced on Saturday that he had met with Mufti Taqi Usmani to discuss the Sharia status of blockchain technology, digital assets, stablecoins, and tokenized real-world assets. Saqib described the meeting as productive, noting that both men agreed on the importance of shielding Pakistani citizens from fraud, exploitation, and other financial harms tied to the crypto sector.
Where Saqib pushed back was on the idea of treating all digital assets as a single, undifferentiated category. He argued in a post on X that blockchains, stablecoins, and tokenized real-world assets are distinct technologies with different use cases, and that each deserves its own combination of technical scrutiny and religious review rather than a blanket judgment.
The meeting came just days after a fatwa from Usmani and other scholars at Darul Ifta, part of Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi, began circulating publicly on Friday. The ruling, dated June 10, concluded that cryptocurrencies do not meet the definition of “maal,” or property, under Islamic law, characterising them instead as fictitious digital entries rather than genuine assets.
The fatwa specifically named USDT and other tokens, and it found that purchases made with crypto — including examples involving books and an online course — were not valid transactions, meaning buyers in those cases had not lawfully obtained the goods.
According to Pakistan’s 2023 national census, roughly 231.7 million people identify as Muslim, giving scholarly rulings on financial matters significant influence over how ordinary Pakistanis view and use digital assets.
PVARA itself is a relatively new institution. The Pakistani government established the authority last year to license and oversee cryptocurrency exchanges and to help integrate blockchain technology into the country’s broader financial system. How the agency navigates religious objections to crypto is likely to shape both public adoption and the regulatory framework it is still building.
