Every day in September, buying USDT with rupees on peer-to-peer markets cost more than the official dollar rate. The extra averaged 2.65%, about Rs7,300 on every 1,000 USDT, and rose late in the month. This is the first edition of our monthly report on the gap.
No Pakistani law bans you from holding or trading USDT, and no regulator licenses the people who sell it to you. Using it to pay for things at home is a different matter. Here is what the Virtual Assets Act, PVARA's rules and the State Bank actually say.
The State Bank lifted its 2018 crypto ban for banks in April, but only for firms PVARA has licensed, and there are none yet. For individuals who buy and sell USDT on P2P markets, the circular changes less than many think. Here is what it says, and what to do if your account is blocked.
If you have lost money to a crypto scam in Pakistan, three places can act: your bank or wallet, the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency, and PVARA. Here is the order to go in, and what each will ask you for.
Dubai's regulator has licensed Kraken's parent to serve retail clients, and Kraken says it will launch within weeks. Pakistani workers in the UAE sent home $748.5 million in September. On the Pakistani side of that corridor, no crypto platform is licensed.
Pakistan's crypto regulator says it has received 75 applications. Its chairman's post does not say who filed them or for what. No firm holds a licence yet, so banks still cannot settle crypto trades for anyone.
Pakistanis abroad sent $3.6 billion home in September, the third month since the State Bank stopped paying for free transfers. On P2P markets, USDT stayed above the official rate every day.
On 10 October 2025, more than $19 billion of leveraged crypto bets were force-closed in a day, about Rs5.4 trillion. Pakistan now has written rules for exactly that business. No firm is licensed to run it yet.
Bitcoin hit its record on 6 October 2025. A year on, it is 32% lower in dollars and 33% lower in rupees, because the rupee firmed in between. For Pakistanis who buy through USDT on P2P, the price is higher still.
Pakistan's crypto licensing rules are not a draft. They took effect on 21 August and set a minimum capital for each kind of licence, from Rs15 million for advice to Rs500 million to run an exchange.
OKX's new app turns local money into dollar stablecoins and offers up to 10% a year. Its launch release names Pakistan among its first markets. OKX holds no Pakistani licence, and PVARA's rules on marketing, payments and yield are specific.
Pakistan's banks will give away Rs16 billion a year in prizes to families who receive money from abroad through a bank. The first qualifying quarter began on 1 October. On the latest inflow figures, the average entry is worth at least Rs37 per $100.
In its latest yearly check on how countries regulate crypto firms, published in July, the global money-laundering watchdog lists 68 jurisdictions. Of 57 jurisdictions with a licensing law, Pakistan was the only one to report neither an inspection of a crypto firm nor any enforcement action.
Saturday's Asian Games final was a tradeable contract on crypto prediction markets, and one of them does not block Pakistan. Our gambling law, the betting-app crackdown and PVARA's rules all bear on whether a Pakistani should take part. None gives a clear yes.
Since early September we have recorded the price of USDT on Binance P2P and Bybit P2P every 15 minutes. Two patterns held up across the month: before dawn is the dearest and patchiest time to trade, and weekends have come in cheaper. Neither pattern is large, and the gap between ads can matter more.
