Minister of State and Chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), Bilal Bin Saqib, called on Member States to move collectively from discussing digital assets to building the regulatory and institutional frameworks needed to govern the next generation of global finance.
Delivering the keynote address virtually at the United Nations Headquarters during the session on Digital Assets and Blockchain for Sustainable Development: Advancing Digital Finance through Innovation,” Bin Saqib stated digital assets, tokenization and distributed ledger technologies present emerging economies with an opportunity to rethink financial infrastructure around inclusion, efficiency and access.
The briefing was convened by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations in collaboration with UNDP, UNCTAD and the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology (ODET), bringing together Member States, UN entities and private-sector stakeholders.
“The question before this room is not whether these technologies will scale. They will. The question is: who will shape them, and in whose interest?”
Bin Saqib placed ordinary people at the centre of the debate, pointing to the 1.4 billion adults globally who remain outside the formal financial system, alongside billions more who participate on unequal terms through expensive remittances, slow settlement and limited access to credit.
He highlighted the continued cost of cross-border remittances, noting that the average cost of sending $200 remains more than twice the 3 percent target established under SDG 10.c.
Closing that gap, he said, would return billions of dollars annually directly to families.
The Minister argued that the development potential of digital finance extends well beyond payments.
Digital identity and verifiable financial histories could help small businesses, farmers and women entrepreneurs demonstrate economic activity without relying exclusively on traditional collateral or documentation.
Meanwhile, Tokenisation could create new ways to mobilize capital by fractionalizing assets ranging from infrastructure bonds to renewable energy projects, while distributed ledgers could strengthen transparency across public expenditure and supply chains.
These priorities closely reflect the briefing’s wider focus on payments, remittances, financial inclusion, capital mobilisation, digital identity, traceability and responsible implementation.
However, Bin Saqib cautioned against treating technology as an automatic solution.
He pointed to risks ranging from retail volatility and illicit finance to concentration of power and a widening divide between countries with sophisticated regulatory capabilities and those without them.
“The choice before every Member State is not regulate or don’t regulate. It is simpler, and starker, than that: to govern the future, or be governed by it.”
He argued that regulation must evolve alongside innovation, warning that frameworks introduced too late can fail consumers and markets, while regulation driven primarily by fear can push technological activity into less transparent environments.
The emerging lesson from jurisdictions around the world, he said, is that regulation should be treated as market-building rather than market-blocking.
“No nation rises alone, and no nation should be left to rise alone.”
He urged Member States to use the briefing as the beginning of deeper cooperation rather than an isolated discussion.
The programme subsequently brought Member States, UN entities and industry participants together for discussions on digital assets, blockchain, artificial intelligence, digital identity and the policy conditions required for responsible implementation.
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