You Won’t Believe Who Pakistan Just Hired to Write Their Bitcoin Policy 👀🚀

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If one woke up on Sunday, June 15, and found themselves in a universe where Pakistan was hotly pursuing a sovereign Bitcoin strategy, they’d be forgiven for assuming they were still dreaming, had eaten far too much cheese the night before, or accidentally wandered into someone else’s economic simulation.

Against the eternal tide of yawning paperwork and sternly-worded government memos, a video meeting broke out, featuring Michael Saylor—once an entrepreneur, now apparently a Bitcoin-evangelist with a penchant for large numbers. Across the digital ether, Saylor found himself beamed directly (presumably still wearing pajama bottoms) into a conversation with Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Minister of State for Blockchain and Crypto Bilal Bin Saqib. The topic: whether Bitcoin could join the exclusive club of things inside Pakistan’s sovereign reserves alongside gold, dollars, and an impressive binder collection.

Mega-Saylor Swoops Into Islamabad (Virtually, With WiFi)

The Finance Ministry later described the chat as a “milestone,” which, compared to your average Sunday Zoom, is at least several steps up. Saylor, whose company, Strategy, has hoarded more Bitcoin than most central banks have common sense, offered his continuing guidance in an “advisory capacity”—which is technocrat for “happy to keep talking if the snacks are good.”

According to a press note that local media Dawn got their hands on (possibly by hiding in a filing cabinet), the central mystery: could Bitcoin make Pakistan’s monetary system less wobbly, given a history of relying on dollar drip-feeds and IMF pep talks? Saylor—famed for converting a respectable mid-sized software business into a $100-billion juggernaut powered by crypto fever dreams—pitched Bitcoin as “the strongest instrument for long-term national resilience.” (Strong words, considering the fact that Bitcoin is only about as tangible as your last new year’s resolution.)

The X-iverse (which, for the confused, is a place where news breaks before reality catches up) soon saw the video. Saylor pontificated about capital, credibility and the secret of attracting global financial flows: “People must trust you,” he insisted—easier said than achieved, unless one has a stash of adorable puppies handy. “If the world trusts you and they hear your words … capital and capability will flow to Pakistan. It’s there; it wants to find a home.” Which, for capital, is a nicer pitch than “Come for the rivers; stay for the monetary policy.”

Minister Aurangzeb, meanwhile, heads the fresh-faced Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) and told those assembled that Pakistan was dead set on becoming the Global South’s trendsetter in digital assets—perhaps with less Bollywood razzmatazz but notably more blockchain.

Saqib, master of pep talks, pronounced Saylor’s own Bitcoin jackpot as evidence of “sovereign-grade” status. “If private individuals can build that in the US, why can’t Pakistan, as a nation, do the same?” he wondered, evidencing a rare fusion of optimism and selective amnesia about regulatory headaches.

Saylor’s undeniable street cred comes from Strategy’s cache of 582,000 Bitcoins (roughly $61 billion, or several times the GDP of whichever small country you forgot existed). Pakistan, meanwhile, is frantically working through the Kafkaesque labyrinth of rules for mining, custody and, naturally, taxation. The PCC has even launched a technical committee to birth a Digital-Assets Act, while eyeing up a shiny new agency called PVARA, likely to regulate both assets and government acronym inflation.

But lest you think this is all smooth blockchain sailing, the legal climate is, in a word, “schizophrenic.” Just two weeks ago, the State Bank reminded lawmakers (possibly with a bullhorn), that “cryptocurrency remains banned,” and any loose bits of blockchain would be swiftly confiscated and sent, presumably, to a very secure evidence locker. The result, as Dawn put it: a “policy in disarray.” The only thing less settled is probably your Aunt’s Christmas pudding.

The government, undeterred by things like “laws,” has picked up the pace. At the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas (where else?), Saqib unveiled a dramatically state-sanctioned cold wallet. Cabinet approval soon followed to devote 2,000 megawatts of surplus power—enough to toast a truly cosmic number of crumpets—to Bitcoin mining and AI data centers. The official line is that this will monetize excess power and diversify reserves, which historically only included things shiny or printed by someone else.

Saylor’s new advisory gig hasn’t been formalized yet, and there’s no sign—at least on this side of the looking glass—if Strategy itself will invest its own capital. Regardless, Pakistan is angling hard to import not just Bitcoin, but also some intellectual pizzazz. Saqib, fresh off a roadshow that reportedly included meetings with NYC’s mayor and the New York Crypto Council, said, “Pakistan is establishing itself as a key player in the global cryptocurrency economy and setting trends rather than following them.” Even the phrase wears sunglasses.

Stumbling block? Regulatory coherence—an elusive beast, attracting lawyers and consultants in much the same way honey attracts Winnie-the-Pooh. For now, Pakistan finds itself vaulted into the international spotlight, its policy ambitions grand, its legal framework… still catching up on paperwork.

BTC price at press time: a thumping $106,613—which, after all this, makes one want to check the batteries in their reality detector.

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2025-06-16 13:46