Govt urges UN to regulate digital assets

Pakistan has urged United Nations member states to shift from debate over digital assets toward drafting rules for the next phase of global finance, according to The Express Tribune. Minister of State and PVARA chairman Bilal Bin Saqib made the case in a virtual keynote at UN Headquarters during a session on digital finance. He told the gathering that digital assets, tokenisation and distributed ledgers give emerging economies a chance to reshape money systems so they are more inclusive, efficient and accessible.

Bin Saqib noted that 1.4 billion adults worldwide remain excluded from formal finance, while many more rely on costly remittances and have little access to credit. He said sending $200 still costs more than double the 3% target under SDG 10c, and closing that gap would return billions of dollars to families each year. He argued that digital identity and verifiable financial records could help small firms, farmers and female founders prove activity without collateral, while tokenisation could help mobilise capital.

He cautioned that technology is no automatic fix, citing retail volatility, illicit finance, power concentration and a widening gap in regulatory capacity. He argued rules must evolve alongside innovation, since late frameworks can harm consumers and markets, while fear-driven regulation may push activity into less transparent settings. He concluded that regulation should be seen as a tool for building markets rather than blocking them.