Pakistan’s regulators and Islamic scholars hold talks on the Sharia compliance of crypto assets such as USDT

Deep Tide TechFlow message: On July 13, according to The Block, Bilal bin Saqib, chairman of Pakistan’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), held talks with Islamic scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani on the Shariah compliance of cryptoassets. Previously, on June 10, Usmani issued an Islamic edict (fatwa), ruling that cryptocurrencies (including USDT) do not meet the Shariah definition of “wealth,” and that transactions involving purchasing goods or services with cryptocurrency are invalid.

In response, Saqib called for separate technical assessments and Shariah reviews for different types of blockchain assets, such as stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach. At present, Pakistan is actively moving forward plans including the issuance of a sovereign stablecoin, the tokenization of national assets, and the granting of licenses to crypto exchanges. The relevant regulatory framework explicitly requires compliance with Shariah law, and this religious ruling controversy may have a significant impact on advancing the above plans.