Pakistan weighs tokenising its Eurobonds as Aurangzeb seeks Cabinet nod for RFP
Pakistan is reviewing whether to tokenise its existing Eurobond debt, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said, with Cabinet approval needed before the government issues a request for proposals.
"We are reviewing at this point from the Ministry of Finance and Government of Pakistan, is tokenization of our existing Eurobond debt. We are in discussions at this point, and we are looking forward to the Cabinet approval on this, before we move ahead with issuing the RFP on this front," Aurangzeb told a "Dialogue on Digital Assets and the Future of Banking" organised by the Pakistan Banks' Association with LUMS. He framed digital assets as a means to an end: financial innovation that lowers the cost of doing business and pulls more activity into the formal economy as Pakistan shifts from stabilisation to growth.
The minister pointed to deposit tokens for institutional clients on blockchain networks as a practical example, and cited the Bank for International Settlements' Project Agora, which is examining tokenised bank deposits and cross-border payments using central bank reserves. Banks, he argued, remain central to safeguarding customer funds and delivering services, and he urged them to invest in expertise and work with regulators within their mandates. On stablecoins, he said risk depends on the issuer and on how a token is backed and redeemed, and that unbacked crypto assets carry different risks again.
Aurangzeb said the Virtual Assets Act 2026 provides the legal framework, with a designated authority licensing and supervising virtual asset service providers, and he called for rules that distinguish between categories of digital assets rather than a single approach for the sector. He named the State Bank of Pakistan and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan as key to shaping oversight, and warned that cybersecurity must keep pace: "We all need to acknowledge that we are under attack 24/7 by state and non-state actors, and therefore there is no room for complacency."
Bilal Bin Saqib, Minister of State and chairman of PVARA, told the gathering that Pakistan was largely a user of systems designed elsewhere when correspondent banking took shape, and asked whether the country would "keep renting our future" or help build and own the next set of rules. SBP Deputy Governor Saleem Ullah put practical use cases first, naming blockchain-enabled remittances and Roshan Digital Accounts as candidates for the central bank's regulatory sandbox, while SECP Commissioner Imtiaz Haider said the question is not how assets can be tokenised but which assets should be. PBA chairman Zafar Masud said banks want clear regulatory standards and must be engaged from the outset.
