Pakistan's crypto cops clock in 🕵️‍♂️—FIA launches dedicated unit to chase the blockchain bad guys

Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency has established a dedicated cryptocurrency investigation unit inside its newly operational National Command and Control Centre (NC3), targeting money laundering and terrorism financing conducted through virtual currencies, Counter-Terrorism Wing Director Dr Muhammad Athar Waheed told Dawn. The unit will investigate criminal use of crypto, while the recently created Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) remains the body responsible for regulating digital assets. Waheed urged two other agencies, the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency and the Anti-Narcotics Force, to build similar units to counter crypto's use in cybercrime and the drug trade, and said new rules were being drafted to wrap up inquiries within fixed timeframes.

The NC3 centre consolidates the FIA's financial-crime tools onto one platform, including anti-money laundering and virtual-currency investigation desks, an Interpol coordination point, and units for open-source intelligence, cyber patrolling and dark web investigation. Cointelegraph reached out to the FIA for comment on the crypto unit but did not receive an immediate response. PVARA was created in July 2025 and has already approved licenses for major exchanges including Binance and HTX.

Pakistan, which ranked third in the Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, has moved aggressively to formalize the sector. Islamabad lifted an eight-year crypto banking ban, created PVARA, advanced licences for crypto exchanges and explored tokenizing state assets. PVARA chairman Bilal bin Saqib said in December 2025 that Pakistan ranked as the world's third-largest crypto market by retail activity, and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said at the same event that, based on Pakistan's crypto regulation and adoption, the country could become a world leader in the industry by 2030. The State Bank of Pakistan formally rescinded its 2018 crypto restrictions in a letter issued this week, in line with the nation's Virtual Assets Act of 2026.

Pakistan has also woven crypto into its diplomacy with Washington, striking a deal with an affiliate of World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's crypto venture, to explore using its USD1 stablecoin for cross-border payments. The embrace hit a snag in June, when the Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi seminary ruled that cryptocurrency is not "wealth" under Islamic law and therefore not a valid means of payment, a fatwa that cast doubt on the government's plans. Saqib has since asked the seminary to distinguish between purely speculative tokens and asset-backed instruments such as fully reserved stablecoins and blockchain-recorded sukuk, telling Reuters that Pakistan could "lead the world in Shariah-compliant digital finance."

For now, the FIA unit gives Islamabad an enforcement arm to match its regulatory ambitions as the question of whether crypto is permissible under Islamic finance continues to be debated.