Pakistan’s Special Assistant on Crypto and Blockchain, Bilal Bin Saqib, recently traveled to San Salvador to meet President Nayib Bukele in a landmark summit focused on Bitcoin collaboration. The gathering culminated in a Letter of Intent between Pakistan’s Crypto Council and El Salvador’s National Bitcoin Office, forging a framework for joint initiatives in public sector adoption, Bitcoin mining, and blockchain education.
Bin Saqib praised Bukele’s unconventional approach to leadership, likening him to a Silicon Valley startup founder and expressing Pakistan’s intent to replicate several of El Salvador’s Bitcoin policies. With a significant youth population and surplus energy capacity, Pakistan intends to leverage geothermal and surplus wattage for onshore Bitcoin mining drawing inspiration directly from El Salvador’s model. The remote nature of the deal allows both nations to exchange policy experiences without public waves. Bukele’s administration introduced an AI law and adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, while Pakistan simultaneously created a government controlled Bitcoin reserve and allocated surplus power for mining operations.
A spokesperson outlined that this “crypto diplomacy” platform may evolve into a periodic summit alternating between Islamabad and San Salvador. For Pakistan, this engagement supports the launch of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), a holistic virtual asset framework, and increases financial inclusion via blockchain.
Although international criticism over transparency persists, the agreement implicitly grows Pakistan’s blockchain credibility. The focus now turns to the LOI’s next phase, including mining pilot programs, policy alignment efforts, and educational exchanges.
