The Minister Who Puts a Date on His Predictions
By Karthik Subramanian
AI summary of the source article
Pakistan's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority rolled out licensing regulations following the March 2026 Virtual Assets Act. Chairman Bilal bin Saqib forecast that AI agents will transact with one another using stablecoins and tokenised payment systems by 2028.
Why it matters
Software agents performing economic tasks and paying for services "raises questions about payment systems, authorisation and accountability that regulators should understand before adoption accelerates."
Key facts
- PVARA was established under the Virtual Assets Ordinance of July 2025 and secured a permanent statutory basis with the Virtual Assets Act in March 2026.
- PVARA opened its licensing portal on August 21, giving existing virtual asset operators until September 5 to apply or cease operations.
- PVARA used less than 8 percent of its approved budget and returned approximately 92 percent to the exchequer.
Source excerpt · FinanceFeeds
Plenty of officials talk about AI. Plenty of founders talk about crypto. Bilal bin Saqib has spent years following both and has since helped build the institution that regulates virtual assets in Pakistan. Now he has put a date on his expectations for what comes next: 2028. Pakistan’s Minister of State and Chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) came to government from…