PVARA Chairman pitches Pakistan as virtual assets model at UN forum

Bilal Bin Saqib, the Minister of State who chairs the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, gave the keynote at a Social Business, Youth and Technology Forum, according to Mettis Global. He argued that artificial intelligence and tokenisation could drive financial inclusion if designed around people that the financial system has overlooked. The gathering marked half a century of microcredit and the Year of Social Business, with Muhammad Yunus among its opening panellists.

The keynote estimated that 1.3 billion adults worldwide have no account at any financial institution, yet nearly 900 million of them have a mobile phone. It was argued that the gap is no longer about technology but about rails, rules and the willingness to create them. Pakistan served as an example: it shut banks off from digital assets in 2018, then reopened that route through the Virtual Assets Act 2026, a regulatory sandbox and licensing rules for providers of virtual asset services.

Independent global adoption indices cited more than 40 million Pakistani virtual asset users, placing the country among the leaders in size and youth. Bin Saqib said Pakistan was positioning itself as a creator of technology rather than only a consumer, and that inclusion occurs where technology and regulation meet. The keynote closed by urging young innovators in the developing world to build now, presenting zero poverty and zero unemployment as reachable with today's tools.