Pakistan’s sprint toward a state-level Bitcoin strategy has drawn an influential new ally. On Sunday, June 15, entrepreneur-turned-Bitcoin evangelist Michael Saylor held a video meeting with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Minister of State for Blockchain and Crypto Bilal Bin Saqib to explore how the world’s oldest cryptocurrency could sit inside the country’s sovereign reserves. The Finance Ministry described the conversation as a “milestone” in Pakistan’s digital-assets agenda, and Saylor, whose firm Strategy holds the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin treasury, offered to continue “in an advisory capacity.”
Yet the legal landscape is still contested. Only two weeks ago, senior State Bank officials reminded lawmakers that “cryptocurrency remains banned” under existing directives and that enforcement cases are being forwarded to law-enforcement agencies. The juxtaposition of an official Bitcoin reserve with a de jure ban has produced what Dawn characterised as a “policy in disarray.”
Pakistan’s political leadership has nevertheless accelerated operational plans. In late May Saqib unveiled a state-managed Bitcoin cold wallet at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas and secured Cabinet approval to dedicate 2,000 megawatts of surplus power for Bitcoin mining and AI data-centre workloads. The capital-hungry energy policy is seen in Islamabad as a way to monetise excess generation capacity while building a strategic stockpile of BTC that could, in theory, diversify external reserves currently dominated by dollars and gold.
For now, the largest obstacle remains regulatory coherence. A sovereign Bitcoin reserve, ministerial advocacy and Saylor’s star power have vaulted Pakistan into the global spotlight, but a statutory framework acceptable to both domestic regulators and the IMF will determine whether the country can convert momentum into durable policy.
At press time, BTC traded at $106,613.
