Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presided over the session, which examined two specific instruments: Naya Pakistan Certificates (NPCs), the diaspora-focused investment product already distributed through the Roshan Digital Account programme, and sovereign bonds structured along the lines of Eurobond issuances. The proposed technical format is a Digitally Native Note, or DNN, meaning the debt instrument would be created on a blockchain at the point of issuance rather than converted to digital form after the fact. The blockchain record would serve as the primary title register from day one.

No issuance timeline, platform, or pilot size has been announced. The ministry's official statement confirmed only that PVARA, the Finance Ministry, and SBP will coordinate on design, governance, and phased development, with further announcements to follow. The language throughout is exploratory: this is a planning discussion, not a product launch.

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What a DNN Structure Would Actually Change

A DNN differs from a tokenised bond in an important technical respect. With a tokenised bond, an existing paper instrument is wrapped in a digital token after issuance. A DNN has no paper original; the digital record on the blockchain is the security itself. The practical advantage for Pakistan's stated goals is settlement speed. Current sovereign bond settlement typically runs on a T+2 cycle (two business days after a trade). DNN structures allow same-day settlement at issuance and, through integration with existing clearing infrastructure such as Euroclear's Digital Financial Market Infrastructure, can remain accessible to institutional buyers who never interact with blockchain systems directly.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank issued a $300 million DNN through Euroclear's platform in August 2024, later tapping it by $200 million to reach $500 million total, ranking it among the five largest digital bond issuances globally. Hong Kong issued HK$10 billion (approximately $1.3 billion) in digital green bonds in November 2025 across four currency tranches, attracting more than HK$130 billion in subscription demand. Pakistan's Finance Ministry cited the AIIB transaction, Hong Kong, and Middle East markets as direct references for the structure under discussion.

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The Existing Programme This Would Extend

The Roshan Digital Account, launched by the SBP in September 2020, already allows non-resident Pakistanis and Pakistan Origin Card holders to open foreign-currency accounts remotely and invest in NPCs. As of February 2026, the programme had logged more than $12 billion in cumulative inflows across over 901,000 accounts, with more than $7.6 billion deployed within Pakistan's economy. Dawn's reporting on the meeting cited the figure as "close to $13 billion," consistent with monthly inflows of roughly $216 million as of January 2026. In March 2026, Pakistan formally expanded the RDA framework to allow foreign nationals, foreign companies, and institutional investors to open Roshan Digital Accounts, a step directly relevant to the meeting's focus on broadening investor access.

One data point from the RDA carries design implications: Islamic, or Shariah-compliant, NPCs have attracted $1,063 million in investment through the programme, compared to $518 million for conventional NPCs. The data implies that any tokenised structure would likely need a halal-compliant version to reach the same diaspora base, and analysts and observers suggest the disparity makes that design requirement difficult to avoid.

PVARA Chairman Bilal Bin Saqib, who has overseen Pakistan's crypto regulatory buildout since the Pakistan Crypto Council's founding in March 2025 and was appointed PVARA Chairman in December 2025, described the broader rationale in direct terms. "Tokenization of these products can make them more accessible to overseas Pakistanis and global retail investors," he said.

Aurangzeb framed the meeting as part of a longer modernisation agenda: "Pakistan remains committed to exploring forward-looking financial technologies that can support economic modernisation, deepen investor participation, and strengthen financial accessibility."

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Regional Stakes and the Regulatory Foundation

Pakistan ranked third globally in Chainalysis's 2025 Crypto Adoption Index, with an estimated 15.9 million crypto users and a 6.6 percent ownership rate.

That existing on-chain user base gives any future tokenised sovereign product a ready distribution context, particularly among overseas Pakistanis in the Gulf, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Pakistan's diaspora numbers approximately nine million people across those regions, representing a substantial addressable market for any future issuance.

The regulatory scaffolding for this initiative came together relatively quickly. The Pakistan Crypto Council, founded in March 2025, laid the groundwork for a formal regulatory architecture, and its establishment preceded the legislative steps that followed. The Senate passed the Virtual Assets Act in late February 2026 and the National Assembly followed in early March, converting PVARA from an interim body into a permanent federal authority with licensing authority over token issuers and explicit advisory powers on tokenisation, stablecoins, and blockchain innovation. President Asif Ali Zardari signed the Act immediately into law, completing the legislative process.

In April 2026, the SBP replaced a 2018 circular that had barred banks from servicing crypto firms, issuing new rules permitting regulated banks to open accounts for PVARA-licensed providers. The original prohibition had been in place for seven years. Binance and HTX received no-objection certificates from PVARA in December 2025 and are working through the formal licensing process, though neither has yet received a full operational licence.

If Pakistan proceeds to issuance, it would likely be the first lower-middle-income sovereign to issue a DNN through established multilateral clearing infrastructure. That distinction is meaningful in the context of a global tokenised bond market that, as of early 2026, remained dominated by development banks, European sovereigns, and high-income jurisdictions. How quickly the coordination between PVARA, the Finance Ministry, and SBP produces concrete design decisions will determine whether this signals a genuine structural shift or remains at the level of policy aspiration.