Lahore, January 18: Advisor to the Federal Finance Minister, Mr. Khurram Schehzad, on Sunday addressed a Fireside Chat titled “Tokenizing the Sovereign Assets-Liquidity ready” at the 27th ITCN Asia held at the Expo Center, Lahore.
Speaking at the session, Mr. Khurram Schehzad emphasized the government’s evolving role in the digital economy, stating that the primary responsibility of the government is to facilitate innovation and create an enabling environment for emerging technologies.
He noted that the government is actively working on policies aimed at empowering youth, particularly by opening avenues in modern financial and digital sectors. Highlighting the global context, he said that Bitcoin has a capped global supply of nearly 21 million, making digital assets an important discussion point in today’s financial landscape.
Mr. Schehzad shared that as per reports, Bitcoin/crypto mining is already taking place in Pakistan, indicating growing domestic engagement with crypto-related technologies.
He also shared that the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan, has also planned to tokenize some portion of its domestic debt worth $2 billion in first phase, primarily tapping retail investors.
Discussing regulatory and institutional developments, he said that the idea behind creating a dedicated framework or authority is linked to regulating and understanding crypto assets, while acknowledging that Pakistan is still at a nascent stage in this field. He cited UAE’s example, which has already established structured mechanisms for virtual assets, and stressed that Pakistan is learning and moving forward cautiously in this domain.
The session concluded with a discussion on the importance of balanced policymaking, innovation-friendly regulations, and global best practices to ensure that Pakistan can responsibly explore opportunities in digital and sovereign asset tokenization.
