Pakistan, El Salvador Form Crypto-Focused Partnership

Pakistan and El Salvador have launched their first formal bilateral relationship, and they’re anchoring it in cryptocurrency.

Pakistan’s special assistant to the prime minister on crypto and blockchain, Bilal Bin Saqib, met with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele in San Salvador to outline a new knowledge-sharing partnership focused on cryptocurrencies, as Bloomberg first reported.

The meeting marks a pivot for Pakistan, which only recently began embracing crypto. The country moved back in May to use surplus energy from coal-fired power plants to mine bitcoin BTC$71,091.27, and last month engaged with Strategy’s Michael Saylor to explore the cryptocurrency’s role in its sovereign reserves.

Pakistan is moving toward crypto despite financial oversight by the International Monetary Fund, which recently rejected its proposal to subsidize power for bitcoin mining.

The country is looking to set up a BTC reserve and already allocated 2,000 megawatts to mining. It also set up a new regulatory body in May, the Pakistan Digital Assets Authority, to oversee the growing domestic crypto economy.

According to Saqib, between 15 and 20 million Pakistanis already hold crypto.

El Salvador was the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, doing so in 2021. Despite IMF disapproval, Bukele’s government has continued buying bitcoin, with a publicly disclosed reserve of over 6,200 BTC, worth roughly $745 million.

Praising Bukele, Saqib said on social media he’s a “leader from the future, who saw the future first because when it wasn’t cool to back Bitcoin, he stood with conviction.”

Pakistan has secured a $7 billion loan from the IMF last year, requiring tight fiscal reforms through 2027. Despite the pressure, it’s nevertheless looking to integrate crypto into its financial system.