The Pakistan government announced Wednesday (January 14) that it has signed an agreement with World Liberty Financial, a crypto company linked with US President Donald Trump, to explore the use of its stablecoin for international payments.
In a statement, Pakistan Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (PVARA) said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SC Financial Technologies, a company it described as an “affiliated entity” of World Liberty.
Today, World Liberty Financial signed an MoU with the Ministry of Finance to explore innovation in digital finance, particularly the use of stablecoins for cross-border transactions, signalling growing global interest in Pakistan as a key market for digital assets. pic.twitter.com/rYzbfHYysd
— Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (@PakistanVARA) January 14, 2026
According to a Reuters report, Pakistan’s central bank will work closely with SC Financial Technologies to integrate World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin into a regulated digital payments structure.
For the duration of its existence, all talk of World Liberty has centred on its unconventional — and unethical — relationship with the US president. The latest announcement is World Liberty’s second publicly-announced deal involving a sovereign state since its launch in September 2024. In May 2025, the UAE signed an agreement with World Liberty to purchase $200 billion of its stablecoins.
For Pakistan, the present deal is yet another foray into the digital currency space, as it seeks to reduce its dependence on cash and improve cross-border payments. The country sees over $36 billion in annual remittance inflows, including an estimated 40 million crypto users and up to $300 billion in annual crypto trading volumes, PVARA said.
The country is set to launch a pilot for a digital currency, and is preparing legislation to regulate virtual assets, according to the Reuters report.
“Our focus is to stay ahead of the curve by engaging with credible global players, understanding new financial models, and ensuring that innovation, where explored, is aligned with regulation, stability, and national interest,” said Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.
The deal was finalised during a visit by Zach Witkoff, co-founder of World Liberty and CEO of SC Financial Technologies.
World Liberty signed a Letter of Intent with the Pakistan Crypto Council last April to promote blockchain adoption and expand stablecoin use for remittances and trade.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies pegged to a certain asset (fiat currencies like the US dollar, or commodities such as gold, oil, silver and other cryptocurrencies), from which they derive their stable value. This ensures they do not see the range of fluctuations seen in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Crypto investors typically use stablecoins to park their profits without converting them back into real money, allowing for fast and cheap transactions without using intermediaries in traditional payment mechanisms. Their ownership is simultaneously registered in digital ledgers, eliminating the costs and lengthy processing times involved with traditional cross-border transitions.
Stablecoin use boomed in 2025, despite the International Monetary Fund cautioning against its uptake. Stablecoin transaction volumes increased worldwide by 72%, reaching $33 trillion in 2025, according to a report by Artemis Analytics Inc, while Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that total stablecoin payment flows could touch $56 trillion by 2030.
Trump’s stance on cryptocurrency and decentralised financing (independent of central banks) has certainly helped its increased use. His views on the subject have evolved from vocal scepticism to becoming a champion of the sector. Crucial to this is his personal involvement in the space through his family’s crypto empire, including World Liberty.
Trump and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff founded World Liberty with their sons and other parties in September 2024, as part of his presidential run. Since becoming president, the duo claims to have stepped back from its day-to-day operations: They are now listed on the company’s website as Cofounders Emeritus. Their sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr and Zach Witkoff, manage the day-to-day operations. However, the firm is 60% owned by a Trump business entity, which makes 75% of revenue in coin sales.
As President, Trump has undone Biden-era restrictions on cryptocurrency, promoted crypto investments from the White House and signed legislation such as the GENIUS Act, which regulates the use of stablecoins in the US.
Trump has directly made millions of dollars from World Liberty, declaring $57.3 million from the company in the 2024 calendar year. His forthcoming SEC filing would clearly indicate a sizeable increase over this number, reflecting his profits from the USD1, which, as of January 14, has a market cap of $3.42 billion. (Tether’s USDT is the world’s largest stablecoin by market value, with $187 billion in circulation, according to CoinGecko data.)
An analysis by The New York Times last May said that World Liberty had “eviscerated the boundary between private enterprise and government policy in ways without precedent”. The beneficiaries of such relaxation have been parties who have curried favour with Trump, aligning with the president’s penchant for deal-making.
Under the second Trump administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US markets regulator, has dropped its previous cases against cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Gemini Space Station (owned by the billionaire Winklevoss twins). The SEC claims it is reversing the previous administration’s overzealous stance on crypto.
The USD1 coin is now integrated into Tron, a blockchain owned by Chinese-born crypto billionaire Justin Sun. Sun has been linked with organised crime and was being investigated in 2023 by the US Justice Department for suspected financial crimes, and had avoided travelling to the US, fearing arrest. The Trump admin has dropped these charges, and Sun met with the Trump family during the president’s four-nation tour of West Asia last May.
The US Treasury noted in a 2023 report that Tron was noted “growing in popularity among illicit actors”. The largest volume of illegal crypto activity occurred on the Tron blockchain in 2024, amounting to $6.148 trillion at 58% of the total volume, according to TRM Labs, a researcher and cryptocurrency watchdog.
The NYT analysis also noted that World Liberty had engaged in “mutual investment deals” in which several businesses curried favour for political quid pro quo. Sun, for instance, spent at least $75 mn to purchase the $WLFI token before Trump’s inauguration last January, prompting reciprocal investments by World Liberty.
World Liberty also figures front and centre in the US’s deals with the United Arab Emirates – UAE crypto company MGX would invest $2 billion in Binance using the USD1 token. A few days later, the Trump administration announced the US-UAE Acceleration partnership, granting the UAE access to thousands of increasingly scarce computer chips.
Curated by Shiv Shakti Mishra
