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 NBIS perpetual settles in USDC everywhere.
8 venues open Nebius Group perps to traders in Pakistan.
Aster
gTrade
Hyperliquid
Lighter
Ondo
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 NBIS from Pakistan: regulated.
Pakistan residents can trade Nebius Group on 11 platforms, including Aevo, Aster and Extended.
Canborsa offers up to 10x leverage on Nebius Group for traders based in Pakistan.
On Canborsa, Nebius Group trading from Pakistan costs 0.07% per side.