Pakistan has moved closer to tapping El Salvador’s Bitcoin playbook. In San Salvador this week, Bilal Bin Saqib, CEO of the Pakistan Crypto Council and special assistant to Pakistan’s prime minister on crypto and blockchain, met with El Salvador Nayib Bukele.
Pakistan is already subject to a $7 billion IMF loan program to 2027. Now it wishes to learn from the mistakes Bukele made when he legalized crypto as legal tender in September 2021, while facing opposition from the International Monetary Fund regarding fiscal risks.
A head of state who doesn’t just talk tech, but challenges it, from AI and robotics to Bitcoin.
That plan would have tapped up to 2,000 megawatts of seasonal electricity surplus—mainly in winter months—to run mining rigs and AI data centers.
The IMF warned that special pricing schemes risked skewing Pakistan’s energy market and undermining fiscal balance. If Islamabad presses ahead without IMF buy‑in, it could trigger fresh delays in loan disbursements.
Pakistan hopes to learn how to build its own “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” without exposing public finances to wild price swings.
El Salvador now holds over 6,240 BTC, valued at about $740 million, according to BitcoinTreasuries.NET. Bukele’s team has bought more than 3,000 BTC since rolling out its Bitcoin Law, even as critics pointed to market volatility and operational hurdles.
Saqib hailed Bukele as “one of the most extraordinary visionary leaders of our time,” noting that conviction mattered more than deep pockets when staking a country’s reputation on digital currency.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView
