Overview
- A leading Karachi seminary has issued a fatwa saying cryptocurrencies are not recognised as wealth under Islamic law and therefore impermissible for payment.
- Saylani Welfare International Trust has reiterated an earlier, conditionally permissive 37‑page fatwa that treats some digital assets as a legally controllable right and has sent that ruling to state bodies for review.
- The Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority has asked scholars to distinguish speculative tokens from asset‑backed or fully reserved digital instruments and is holding consultations to inform licensing and tokenisation plans.
- Regulators and the State Bank have moved to formalise crypto with a CBDC, a new regulator and partnerships to tokenise assets, so the religious rulings could directly shape who can legally use or trade digital tokens.
- Millions of retail users and planned cross‑border and tokenisation projects are at stake, and the next government decisions will determine market access, exchange licences and which token types may be treated as Shariah‑compliant.