Bilal Bin Saqib sets out vision for AI-driven regulation

August 25, 2026 (MLN):  Pakistan is positioning itself to regulate and harness artificial intelligence and tokenization as forces reshaping financial institutions, capital markets, and the global movement of value, with authorities studying a digitally native sovereign investment product aimed at improving access for the Pakistani diaspora.

The remarks came from Minister of State and Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) Chairman Bilal Bin Saqib, who addressed the inaugural Silk Road Finance & Technology Forum in Tashkent, speaking alongside senior central bank officials from Cambodia and Azerbaijan during a session titled Regulating the Frontier: AI & Tokenization Spotlight.

He argued that governments need regulatory institutions capable of keeping pace with technologies evolving faster than traditional policy cycles, said a press release issued.

Bin Saqib pointed to Pakistan's shift from its 2018 restrictions on virtual assets, which he said had pushed activity toward offshore platforms and peer-to-peer channels rather than eliminating it, leaving consumers with little protection.

Pakistan has since enacted the Virtual Assets Act, 2026, establishing PVARA as the country's dedicated regulator, which has notified its licensing regulations and opened its licensing portal for virtual asset service providers.

He also referenced the State Bank of Pakistan's Circular 10, which allows regulated banks to offer accounts, including segregated client-money accounts, to licensed virtual asset service providers.

On artificial intelligence, Bin Saqib said the technology would reshape not just financial products but the institutions supervising them, and that regulators themselves would need to become more technology-enabled to maintain oversight, compliance, and systemic stability as markets grow faster and more automated.

On tokenization, he described it as a significant shift in how financial assets are issued, distributed, settled, and owned.

He said PVARA and the State Bank of Pakistan are studying a model for a digitally native sovereign note that could be issued on regulated blockchain infrastructure, settle on the same day, and remain interoperable with Pakistan's existing financial system, potentially reducing investment ticket sizes and settlement times while improving transparency.

He added that the opportunity extends beyond sovereign debt into tokenized real-world assets, payments, settlement, and private capital.

Bin Saqib further said Pakistan's young population should move from being users of emerging technologies to becoming builders of companies and financial infrastructure around them, pointing to PVARA's regulatory sandbox as a supervised environment for testing products across tokenization, payments, digital asset custody, and compliance technology.

He said he wants young Pakistanis to see AI and blockchain not merely as tools but as industries to build companies around, adding that the convergence of the two could enable a new generation of highly automated, even agentic, businesses run by small teams.

He concluded that Pakistan's goal is to build the regulatory clarity and institutional capacity needed to compete in tomorrow's financial economy.

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