Pakistan moved from a de facto banking freeze to a statutory licensing regime in 2026, and both layers are still visible at once. The Virtual Assets Act, 2026 — promulgated in March 2026, replacing the Virtual Assets Ordinance of July 2025 — established the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) as an independent federal regulator that licenses, supervises and regulates virtual assets and virtual asset service providers.
Holding and trading crypto is therefore lawful in principle and the state now has a framework for it; what is not yet true is that anyone is licensed under it. PVARA's own licensing page frames the requirements as applying "when full licensing becomes available" and gives firms that were operating on or before 5 March 2026 until 5 September 2026 to file a No Objection Certificate application or stop.
The contract itself does not change by geography: a GOLD perpetual settles in USDC everywhere.
18 venues open gold perps to traders in Pakistan.
ApeX
Aster
Avantis
Derive
gTrade
Helix
Hyperliquid
Lighter
Ondo
Ostium
Pacifica
Paradex
VestFour steps from sign-up to an open position.
15% flat Capital Gains Tax on cryptocurrency profits under Pakistan's Virtual Assets Ordinance 2025.
Trading Gold from Pakistan: regulated.
Pakistan residents can trade Gold on 24 platforms, including Aevo, ApeX and Aster.
Canborsa offers up to 20x leverage on Gold for traders based in Pakistan.
On Canborsa, Gold trading from Pakistan costs 0.07% per side.