Licensed VASPs vs. P2P: How to Safely On-Ramp PKR into Crypto

For years, the way most Pakistanis bought crypto was peer-to-peer (P2P): pay a stranger by bank transfer, receive crypto from an exchange’s escrow. That was partly because the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had told banks since 2018 to steer clear of virtual currency business. In 2026 that began to change. This post explains the new framework, what it means for depositing PKR, and how licensed providers compare with P2P today.

What Changed in 2026

• Virtual Assets Act 2026 established PVARA, the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, as the body responsible for licensing, regulating, and supervising virtual asset activity.
• SBP Circular No. 10 of 2026 (14 April 2026) lifted the blanket restriction in place since 2018. Banks may now open accounts for entities licensed by PVARA, and for entities holding a PVARA No-Objection Certificate (NOC) on a limited-purpose basis.
• Licensing opened in August 2026. Providers already operating had to apply for an NOC by 5 September 2026 or cease operating. Operating without applying after the deadline is an offence.

What Banks Can and Cannot Do

Banks may	Banks may not
Open accounts for PVARA-licensed virtual asset service providers (VASPs), after verifying the licence with PVARA	Invest in, trade, or hold crypto with their own funds or customer deposits
Open rupee-denominated, non-interest-bearing client money accounts for settling authorised transactions	Allow cash deposits or withdrawals in those client money accounts
Open limited-purpose accounts for NOC holders (no virtual asset transactions until licensed)	Allow VASP funds to be mixed with client funds
Apply enhanced due diligence and report suspicious transactions to the Financial Monitoring Unit	Skip licence verification before onboarding a VASP

What this means for you: the rules target the providers, not individual customers. We could not find an official statement that retail customers can now freely buy crypto by bank transfer, and one coverage of the circular explicitly does not address retail purchases. So the new framework is a foundation for regulated PKR on-ramps, not yet proof that every bank will process crypto-related transfers.

Licensing Status: What a “Licensed” Exchange Means

Stage	What it is	Can it provide services?
Sandbox	Supervised testing; participants who finish may apply for a licence without an NOC	Limited, under supervision
NOC	Transitional approval to proceed toward licensing; valid three months, extendable once by up to three months	No, it does not authorise services by itself
Full licence	PVARA licence in a specific category (exchange, custody, broker-dealer, etc.)	Yes, within that category

PVARA licence categories include exchange, broker-dealer, custody, lending and borrowing, derivatives, advisory, asset management, transfer and settlement, token issuance, and mining-related services. Minimum paid-up capital differs by category:

Licence category	Minimum paid-up capital (PKR)
Exchange services	500 million
Lending/borrowing, derivatives, mining-related services	500 million
Fiat- and asset-referenced token issuance	300 million
Custody, management and investment, transfer and settlement	200 million
Broker-dealer	75 million
Advisory	15 million

Licensees must be Pakistani companies with at least three directors. Binance and HTX were reported to have received NOCs in December 2025, and another guide lists Bitget as an NOC holder. As of 8 October 2026, one legal guide did not name any exchange with a full licence. Check PVARA’s advisories for the latest list.

Licensed VASP vs. P2P: Side by Side

Factor	Licensed VASP (when available)	P2P marketplace
Regulatory status	Licensed by PVARA, supervised	Platform may hold an NOC; individual sellers are unverified counterparties
How PKR moves	Into the provider’s bank client money account	Directly to a private seller’s bank or wallet
Customer funds	Must be segregated from provider’s own funds	Escrow held by the exchange only until you pay
Paper trail	Provider-side records and AML checks	Your own order history and receipts
Cost	Platform fees; PKR deposit cost varies	P2P spread of about 1% or more per direction
Bank-freeze risk	Lower, because the bank has onboarded the provider	Real; payments from third parties or unusual patterns can trigger holds
Availability today	Still limited	Widely available

How to Check Whether a Platform Is Legitimate

1. Look for a PVARA licence or NOC reference on the platform’s website, then confirm it on PVARA’s own channels, not just the platform’s claim.
2. Check whether the platform is a Pakistani company (licensees must be) or a foreign exchange with an NOC.
3. Confirm the payment details match a company account, not an individual’s.
4. Be wary of anyone asking you to pay a personal account or avoid mentioning crypto to your bank.
5. Read the platform’s rules on segregation of customer funds and withdrawals.

How to Deposit PKR Today

• Through a licensed or NOC-holding platform, if it publishes company bank details for deposits. Confirm those details on the platform’s official site.
• Through P2P on an exchange, using a bank account in your own name and a seller whose name matches the receiving account. Follow the steps in our guide to buying crypto safely in Pakistan.
• Ask your bank whether it processes payments to licensed VASPs. Implementation may lag the SBP circular.

Note that client money accounts are non-interest-bearing and cannot be used as loan collateral, and Pakistani banks cannot hold a physical USD account funded by crypto, according to one provider’s summary of the rules.

Costs: A Simple Comparison

Use the PakGains crypto dashboard to see a coin’s USD price and its PKR reference value. The gap between that reference and the price you are quoted shows your effective premium. Remember the dashboard uses a mid-market rate (276.98 PKR per USD on its last reading) and is not a tradable quote.

Final Thoughts

The shift from a blanket banking ban to a licensing regime is the biggest structural change for Pakistani crypto users in years. For now, licensing is still maturing, so P2P remains the common route, and it demands care. As licensed providers go live with bank-linked PKR deposits, expect cleaner records, segregated customer funds, and fewer frozen-account surprises. Until then, prefer platforms engaging with PVARA, keep every receipt, and never assume an NOC means full approval. This is general information, not legal or financial advice.