Pakistan is moving to tighten oversight of digital assets, pairing its pro-crypto regulatory push with a new enforcement arm focused squarely on financial crime.
The country’s top federal investigative body, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), has created a specialized cryptocurrency investigation unit inside its recently launched National Command and Control Centre (NC3). This new unit is tasked with tracking and dismantling money laundering and terrorism financing schemes that run through virtual currencies.
According to FIA Counter-Terrorism Wing Director Dr. Muhammad Athar Waheed, the crypto unit will focus on the criminal exploitation of digital assets, while regulatory oversight of the broader sector remains in the hands of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA). In other words, PVARA sets the rules for exchanges, wallets, and other service providers, while the FIA’s NC3 team is meant to enforce those rules and pursue offenders.
Dr. Waheed explained to local media that the unit will investigate a wide range of offenses involving crypto-from cross-border laundering networks and sanction-evasion attempts to domestic frauds that use digital assets as a payment rail or a tool to hide illicit flows. The objective is to ensure that the rapid expansion of Pakistan’s digital asset ecosystem does not become a safe haven for organized crime or extremist networks.
He also called for deeper coordination between the FIA and other key state institutions dealing with technology and finance. That includes agencies responsible for cybercrime investigations and those that monitor suspicious financial transactions. The idea is to create a unified front where financial intelligence, cybersecurity expertise, and traditional law enforcement tools are brought together to follow the money-even when it moves on blockchains.
This move comes as Islamabad is actively building a legal and regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and related services. Pakistan has already taken steps to recognize and license virtual asset service providers, including exchanges and custodial platforms, as part of a broader effort to modernize its financial system and encourage innovation in fintech. The new crypto investigation unit is designed as a counterweight to that liberalization, providing enforcement capabilities that match the sophistication of the emerging digital asset market.
By placing the unit within the NC3, authorities are signaling that crypto-related crime will be treated as a complex, technology-driven threat rather than a niche financial issue. The NC3 is structured to integrate data, surveillance, and operational coordination across multiple departments, which should help investigators trace crypto transactions across borders, platforms, and different types of digital wallets.
From a policy standpoint, Pakistan’s approach aims to strike a balance between encouraging legitimate crypto activity and satisfying international expectations on anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF). Global standard-setters increasingly expect countries to apply the same level of scrutiny to virtual assets as they do to traditional banking, including implementing “travel rule” style monitoring and robust know-your-customer (KYC) practices.
The dedicated unit is likely to focus initially on several core areas: large-scale laundering of corruption proceeds, the use of stablecoins and privacy-focused assets to move funds covertly, high-yield investment scams that pay out in crypto, and networks that convert criminal proceeds into digital assets before sending them offshore. Investigators will need to develop skills in blockchain analytics, wallet attribution, and forensic tracing of on-chain and off-chain data.
For Pakistan’s nascent crypto industry, the creation of this unit is a double-edged development. On one hand, stricter enforcement raises the compliance burden for exchanges and other crypto businesses, which will have to invest in transaction monitoring, reporting, and user verification systems. On the other hand, a credible enforcement framework can increase trust in the market, attract more institutional participants, and demonstrate to foreign partners that Pakistan is serious about tackling financial crime.
The new investigative structure also reflects an acknowledgement that crypto-related crime cannot be effectively addressed through conventional policing alone. Digital assets move across borders within minutes, often through decentralized protocols and non-custodial wallets that do not fit neatly into older regulatory categories. Pakistan’s federal investigators will have to cooperate more closely with international counterparts, share intelligence, and possibly participate in joint operations when criminal networks span multiple jurisdictions.
Another critical challenge will be capacity building. To make the crypto unit effective, the FIA will need to train officers in digital forensics, blockchain analysis tools, and the technical nuances of different networks-from large public blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum to more privacy-oriented or niche ecosystems. Recruiting or seconding specialists with backgrounds in data science, software engineering, and cryptography will be as important as traditional investigative experience.
For ordinary users and investors in Pakistan, the rise of a dedicated crypto crime unit could bring clearer signals about what is legal and what is not. As regulations and enforcement mature side by side, individuals will be under more pressure to use licensed platforms, comply with identification requirements, and stay away from unregistered schemes promising unrealistic returns. This may reduce the appeal of informal peer-to-peer trading channels that operate entirely outside the formal financial system.
Over the longer term, Pakistan’s experiment offers a test case for other emerging markets grappling with the same dilemma: how to harness the opportunities of digital assets-remittances, financial inclusion, new investment products-without opening the door to large-scale abuse. If the FIA’s new crypto investigation unit proves capable of detecting and disrupting sophisticated laundering and terrorist financing operations, it could become a central pillar of the country’s broader digital economy strategy.
At the same time, the success of this initiative will depend heavily on the clarity of the laws that PVARA and related authorities put in place. Ambiguous rules can push legitimate businesses underground, while overly harsh restrictions can drive innovation elsewhere without meaningfully stopping criminals. The interplay between a clear, predictable regulatory regime and a competent enforcement apparatus will determine whether Pakistan can build a secure, credible crypto ecosystem rather than a fragmented and risky market.
In essence, Islamabad is trying to show that a country can embrace digital assets while simultaneously erecting strong guardrails against abuse. The establishment of a specialized crypto investigation unit inside the FIA’s NC3 marks a significant step toward that goal, turning crypto from an unregulated frontier into a sector watched closely by both regulators and federal investigators.