Separate Sharia assessment necessary for crypto assets: Pakistan’s crypto regulator

New Delhi, July 13 (IANS) Pakistan’s top crypto regulator said digital assets should be assessed individually under Islamic law after meeting a prominent scholar whose recent fatwa broadly rejected purchases made with cryptocurrency, a new report has said.

Bilal bin Saqib, Chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, said he held a “constructive discussion” with Mufti Taqi Usmani about the Sharia status of digital assets and that both agreed on the need to protect Pakistanis from “fraud, exploitation, and financial harm,” the report from The Block said.

Saqib argued that blockchains, stablecoins, tokenized real‑world assets and other digital instruments represent different technologies and use cases and “merit careful technical assessment alongside rigorous Shariah examination, rather than being viewed through a single lens.”

The comments came after a fatwa previous week by Usmani and other scholars of Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi’s Darul Ifta, that said cryptocurrencies do not qualify as “maal,” or wealth, under Sharia and are rather just fictitious numerical entries.

When asked if purchases of goods and services such as a book or an online course made with cryptocurrency are valid, the scholars said they do not amount to lawful transfer of ownership of the products.

Scholars asked the purchaser to return the books and delete the course materials and hence the ruling expanded its scope beyond speculative crypto trading to trade of physical goods and digital services.

Saqib called for continued engagement among religious scholars, regulators and industry experts as Pakistan develops its approach to emerging financial technology.

Pakistan’s parliament passed the Virtual Assets Act in March, making PVARA a permanent federal regulator with powers to license exchanges, custodians and token issuers.

Regulators have room to distinguish between unbacked cryptocurrencies, fiat‑backed stablecoins and tokenized securities, the scholar said.

Another report has said that the State Bank of Pakistan had historically taken a cautious stance on crypto, but the agreement with US President Donald Trump’s family-linked crypto business, World Liberty Financial, gave quasi‑official legitimacy to a foreign‑controlled stablecoin ecosystem.

—IANS

aar/pk