Pakistan creates crypto crime unit as adoption push accelerates

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency has created a dedicated crypto crime unit, a sign that the country’s digital asset push now has a sharper enforcement arm. For everyday crypto users and investors, the move shows Pakistan is trying to bring the sector into the financial system while policing the risks that come with faster adoption.

The new unit will focus on money laundering and terrorism financing involving virtual currencies, FIA Counter-Terrorism Wing Director Dr Muhammad Athar Waheed told local outlet Dawn. Money laundering is the process of disguising the origin of funds tied to crime, while terrorism financing refers to moving or raising money for militant activity.

The crypto unit sits inside the FIA’s newly operational National Command and Control Centre, known as NC3. According to Waheed, the unit will investigate criminal use of crypto, while the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, or PVARA, remains responsible for regulating digital assets.

That split matters. A regulator sets or enforces market rules for the industry, such as licensing and compliance standards. An investigative agency pursues suspected crimes. Pakistan is building both tracks at once as it opens the door to more formal crypto activity.

What NC3 brings together

The NC3 combines several FIA financial-crime functions in one place, according to the agency details reported by Dawn. Its structure includes anti-money-laundering work, virtual-currency investigations, an Interpol coordination point, open-source intelligence, cyber patrolling and dark web investigation.

Waheed also called on Pakistan’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency and Anti-Narcotics Force to create similar crypto-focused teams, Dawn reported. He said those units would help counter the use of digital assets in cybercrime and drug-related activity.

New rules are also being drafted to require investigations to be completed within set timelines, Waheed said, according to Dawn. The details of those timeframes were not provided.

A tougher side to Pakistan’s crypto opening

The enforcement move follows a broader policy shift. Pakistan ranked third in Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, which tracks how widely digital assets are used across countries.

Islamabad has recently moved to formalize crypto activity by lifting an eight-year banking ban on crypto services, creating PVARA, advancing licensing plans for crypto exchanges and looking at tokenizing state assets. Tokenization means representing an asset or claim as a blockchain-based token.

Pakistan has also tied crypto policy to its relationship with Washington. The country reached a deal with an affiliate of World Liberty Financial, the Trump family-linked crypto venture, to explore use of its USD1 stablecoin for cross-border payments. A stablecoin is a digital token designed to hold a steady value, often by tracking a currency such as the U.S. dollar.

The new FIA unit does not change the basic market risk of crypto assets, which can move sharply and remain subject to shifting rules. It does show that Pakistan’s government is treating digital assets as both an economic opportunity and a law-enforcement priority.

This story draws on original reporting from Decrypt.