Pakistan may be a crypto leader in 5 years at current pace: CZ

Pakistan's ability to “move fast” with crypto regulation and adoption could make it a world leader in crypto by 2030, according to former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. 

In a recent interview with Pakistan Crypto Council CEO Bilal bin Saqib, CZ credited Pakistan’s leadership for recognizing the demand for digital assets among its relatively young and tech-savvy population.

“I think it's fantastic to see the country of this size are able to have this clear vision from the leadership and ability to move at this speed.”

“If we keep moving at this speed in five years, Pakistan will be the crypto leader, one of the crypto leaders in the world,” said CZ, who serves as strategic adviser to the crypto council.

— Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (@PakistanVARA) December 30, 2025

Pakistan has taken major steps to formalize its crypto ecosystem this year, including establishing the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, permitting crypto exchanges Binance and HTX to operate in the country, building a Bitcoin (BTC) reserve, and exploring real-world asset tokenization to attract foreign investment and boost liquidity.

CZ bullish on Pakistan’s tokenization idea

Asked about the benefit that tokenizing Pakistan’s stock market could bring, CZ responded:

“Which country doesn’t want the global population to buy their stocks?” 

“Tokenizing stocks allows the global population to buy those tokens, that is basically direct investment into those stocks of Pakistan,” CZ said.

CZ encouraged Pakistan to also move quickly on its tokenization plans, noting that the countries that implement them first will reap the most benefits.

Smaller Pakistani players can experiment with crypto too 

For individuals and smaller businesses, CZ said blockchain offers many opportunities compared to traditional banking and AI due to its lower barrier to entry: 

“If a young person wants to start a bank, it's pretty limited opportunities [...] If they want to build an AI company, they probably don't have the large data, the large compute, all the chips, so both of those industries require quite a bit of resources to do a startup.”

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On the other hand, blockchain and crypto are different because they’re all virtual, CZ said, adding: 

“The blockchain will never reject you.”

CZ said, “Blockchain is one of the best places for entrepreneurs,” but acknowledged that there needs to be more education, university programs, and incubators to foster innovation.

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