Pakistan's virtual assets regulator makes a fundamental statement: digital currencies cannot be considered a single asset class from the perspective of Islamic law (Sharia). The head of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), Bilal bin Saqib, emphasized that each crypto asset must undergo a separate Sharia review.
This position is critically important for the development of the crypto market in Pakistan — a country with one of the largest Muslim communities in the world. While regulators previously tended toward generalized fatwas banning or permitting cryptocurrencies as a class, the approach is now shifting to a more nuanced and differentiated one.
This statement has gained particular resonance against the backdrop of a recent fatwa from the authoritative Islamic scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani. He deemed purchases with cryptocurrency, including the stablecoin USDT, impermissible, as he did not consider it property in the Sharia sense. Notably, after a meeting with PVARA representatives, no information about a revision of this position has been reported.
Analytical commentary: This precedent shows that Islamic finance is gradually adapting to the realities of the digital economy, but is following a path of maximum caution. For investors, this means that in countries with Sharia legislation, the legitimacy of crypto assets will be determined not so much by their technological nature as by the specific mechanisms of issuance and circulation. In this context, projects with a transparent collateral structure and the absence of elements of speculative uncertainty (gharar) appear most promising.