Short answer: To check for a licensed crypto exchange in Pakistan, type pvara.gov.pk into your browser yourself and see whether the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) names that company as holding a full licence, then confirm that the company’s own website shows the same legal name and licence number. When I ran this check on 12 November 2026, PVARA’s website did not name any exchange as holding a full licence and had no public register page, so on that date no platform, Binance included, could be confirmed as licensed.
Short on time? Run any app or exchange through my free PVARA checker, and read PVARA explained for how the NOC, sandbox and licence stages work.
Key takeaways
- Only PVARA can tell you who is licensed. Its FAQ says it “maintains and publishes an up-to-date public register of licensees”. On 12 November 2026 I found no register page on pvara.gov.pk.
- A No Objection Certificate (NOC) is not a licence. PVARA’s own regulations say an NOC “does not constitute a Licence or authorization to carry on any Virtual Asset Service”.
- Two exchanges appear on PVARA’s news page as NOC holders (December 12, 2025). No full licence for either was shown there on 12 November 2026. Whether they may serve Pakistani users while their applications are pending is not clearly answered on any official page.
- A real licensee must show its legal name, Pakistan office, licence number and licence categories on its own website. No number, no trust.
- Words like “PVARA approved”, “registered”, “applied” or “government approved” in an ad are not a licence status.
- If a platform is not listed, do not deposit. If it is chasing Pakistani users with false claims, report it to PVARA.
Students ask me this at almost every workshop, usually with a screenshot of an app that says “PVARA approved”. This guide shows the exact pages I open, what each status really means, where the law is still unclear, and the fake signs I look for. I re read every PVARA page and legal document linked below on 12 November 2026.
This guide is education, not financial, legal or tax advice.
Is there a licensed crypto exchange in Pakistan right now?
Here is exactly what I saw on pvara.gov.pk on 12 November 2026. Run the same check on the day you read this, because this can change with one announcement.
| What I checked on pvara.gov.pk | What it showed on 12 November 2026 |
|---|---|
| Site menu | Home, About, Licensing, Legal Framework, News, Complaints. No “Register” or “Licensees” item |
| Licensing page | Explains the 11 licence categories and how firms apply. It lists requirements for “when full licensing becomes available”. It names no licensed company |
| News page | Newest item is dated December 12, 2025: NOCs granted to two exchanges. No licence announcement |
| FAQ, question 4 | Says PVARA “maintains and publishes an up-to-date public register of licensees” |
| A register page | Not found. Addresses such as /register and /licensees returned “page not found”, and the public portal I could open offers applications and complaints, not a register search |
So the honest answer to “which crypto exchange is registered in Pakistan” is this: on that date, PVARA’s own site named two NOC holders and zero full licensees. Outside reports say the same. CryptoPakistan wrote in August 2026 that “no VASP in Pakistan holds a full licence”, and TechX reported on November 9, 2026 that those two exchanges are “not yet authorised to operate”. I treat those as reports, not as the official record. The official record is PVARA.
I keep a dated summary of every change on my Pakistan crypto rules tracker, but please do not rely on my page or any other blog for a licence. Check the regulator.
How to check if a crypto exchange is licensed in Pakistan: the 5 minute check
You need a browser and the exact name of the company behind the app, not just the brand name. The legal name is usually in the app’s terms of service or at the bottom of its website.
Step 1: Open pvara.gov.pk by typing it yourself
Type the address. Do not tap a link from an ad, a YouTube comment, WhatsApp or Telegram. Look at the address bar and confirm it ends in pvara.gov.pk. Scammers use lookalike addresses with extra words or a different ending, so read the ending letter by letter. PVARA’s application and complaint portal is at portal.pvara.gov.pk, which sits on the same domain.
Step 2: Look for the register of licensees
Under section 21(4) of the Virtual Assets Act, 2026, PVARA must publish a register of licensees on its official website. The law says the register must show at least four things for every licensee: its name, its licence number, the services it is permitted to offer, and its current regulatory status.
Open the Licensing page and the site menu and look for that register. If you find it, search for the company’s legal name. If you cannot find a register at all, which was my result on 12 November 2026, treat every platform as unconfirmed and go to step 3.
Step 3: Read the News page for a licence announcement
Open the News page and look for an item that names the company and uses the word “licence”. Read the wording slowly. “Granted an NOC”, “cleared to apply”, “admitted to the sandbox” and “signed an MoU” are not licences. The date matters too: a licence can be suspended or revoked later, which is why the register must show current status.
Step 4: Check the company’s own website for four details
PVARA requires every licensee to publish, in an easy to find place on its website, its legal name, its registered office address in Pakistan, its contact details, its licence number, and the licence categories and services it is authorised for (Virtual Asset Services Regulations, 2026, regulation 54). A licensee must also be a company incorporated in Pakistan.
Match these details with what PVARA shows. The name and number must be the same on both sides. A licence number that appears only on the company’s site, an app banner or a PDF certificate proves nothing, because anyone can type a number.
There is a banking check too. Since April 2026 the State Bank of Pakistan lets banks open accounts for PVARA licensed firms, including client money accounts that take no cash, and banks must keep a copy of the firm’s PVARA licence and confirm it is genuine before onboarding, as Pakistan Today reported on 15 April 2026. A licensed exchange will collect rupees into its own company account, never a person’s account. The SBP website blocked my automated check on 12 November 2026, so I could not read the circular itself.
Step 5: Match the licence category to what you want to do
PVARA licences are issued by category, and its FAQ is clear that a licence “authorizes only those categories” written on it. There are eleven, including Advisory, Broker Dealer, Custody, Exchange, Lending and Borrowing, and Derivatives. If you want to buy and sell coins on a platform, look for Exchange Services. A firm licensed only for Advisory Services is not a licensed exchange.
Step 6: Still unsure? Ask PVARA, not the platform
The platform’s support team will always say yes. If the two sides do not match, or you cannot tell, write to PVARA using the email address shown on its Licensing page, or use the complaint form described below. Until you get a clear answer, the safe status is “not confirmed”.
Never take a platform’s word for its own licence: the name and licence number must match what PVARA itself shows.
PVARA NOC vs licence: what each status means
This is where most people get confused, and where most misleading ads live. PVARA has several stages, and only one of them makes a company a licensed platform.
| Status you may hear | What it actually is | Can it serve customers in Pakistan? | Is this a licensed platform? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full licence (VASP licence) | PVARA’s permission to offer the specific categories written on the licence | Yes, for those categories only | Yes |
| Limited scope or provisional licence | A licence with narrower conditions, which the Act allows PVARA to grant case by case | Only inside the limits written on it | Yes, within its limits. Read the conditions |
| NOC (No Objection Certificate) | A first clearance to incorporate a Pakistani company, register with the Financial Monitoring Unit and then apply for a licence. Under the 2026 regulations it is valid for three months and can be extended once | Not under the 2026 regulations: an NOC “does not constitute a Licence or authorization to carry on any Virtual Asset Service”. The older 2025 NOCs came with different wording, explained below | No |
| Regulatory sandbox | A supervised test of a product within an agreed scope, time and customer limit | Only the limited test PVARA agreed to | No |
| Transitional applicant, or “we have applied” | A firm that was already operating on or before March 5, 2026 and had to file an NOC application by September 5, 2026 or stop | Section 70 lets a firm with a complete application continue existing services under PVARA’s interim directives. You cannot verify who applied, because I found no public list of applicants | No |
| “Registered”, “PVARA approved”, “government approved” | Marketing words. They can mean an SECP company registration, an anti money laundering registration, or nothing at all | These words give no permission | No |
The NOC wording comes from regulation 6(4) of the Virtual Asset Services Regulations, 2026 and is repeated in the PVARA FAQ (question 14: “Does an NOC allow me to start operating? No.”). The transitional deadline is printed on the PVARA homepage.
One more gap to know about: I found no public list of NOC holders or sandbox participants on pvara.gov.pk either. The only NOCs PVARA itself names are the two in its December 2025 news item. So if a new app claims “we have a PVARA NOC”, you currently have no official page to confirm even that.
Is Binance legal in Pakistan? Licensed vs NOC vs grey area
Short version: Binance is not licensed in Pakistan according to PVARA’s website on 12 November 2026. An NOC is not a licence, and whether an NOC lets an exchange keep serving Pakistani users before a licence is a grey area that PVARA has not answered publicly. Here is what the official documents actually say.
- NOC, December 12, 2025. PVARA’s news page says it granted NOCs to two exchanges. Two days later the PVARA chairman called them “not blanket approvals” but a first step in a phased process (Profit, December 14, 2025).
- What a 2025 NOC allowed. Those NOCs were issued under the NOC Regulations, 2025. Clause 15 of that document says an NOC holder could provide “AML-Registered Services” (limited to exchange, broker dealer, custody and derivative services) after registering on the Financial Monitoring Unit’s goAML portal, “in advance of obtaining a full VASP Licence”, and had to submit a licence application within three months of the licensing regulations being issued.
- The deadline that follows. The licensing regulations were notified on August 21, 2026. Three months from that date is about November 21, 2026. That is my own calculation from the text. PVARA has not published a list of who filed.
- What the 2026 rules say. Regulation 7(7) of the Virtual Asset Services Regulations, 2026 lets a 2025 NOC holder apply directly for a licence. Regulation 5A(2) and section 70 of the Act let an existing provider that filed a complete application by the deadline continue its existing services while PVARA decides, under PVARA’s interim directives, and it needs PVARA’s prior approval for any marketing in that period.
So can Binance legally serve you today? I cannot give you a clean yes or no, and neither can any blog. PVARA has not published whether Binance completed goAML registration, whether it filed its licence application, or what interim directives apply to it. What is certain: it is not a licensed exchange, and an NOC is not a licence. Ads that call any exchange “PVARA licensed” today are wrong.
What about you as a user? The criminal offence in section 54 of the Virtual Assets Act, 2026 is aimed at whoever “willfully, provides an unlicensed Virtual Asset Service”. I did not find a section that punishes an individual for holding an account on a platform. The practical risks are different: no licensed regulator stands behind your funds if something goes wrong, and rupee P2P trades through your bank account can get that account frozen, as I explain in my Binance P2P in Pakistan guide.
I am not telling you Binance is good or bad. I am telling you what the regulator’s documents show. For the wider legal picture, read is crypto legal in Pakistan, and see how the industry body is engaging with PVARA in my piece on VAAP.
How do I know if a crypto app is legit? Fake signs to watch for
A licence check protects you from unlicensed firms. These signs protect you from outright fakes that copy the look of a licensed one.
| What you see | Why it is a red flag | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| “PVARA approved” or “PVARA licensed” in an ad, app banner or bio | PVARA publishes licences on its own site. An ad is not a register | Run the 5 minute check. If PVARA does not name the firm, ignore the claim |
| A certificate image or PDF with a stamp and signature | Images are easy to edit. A real licence can be matched by name and number on PVARA’s site | Never accept a certificate as proof. Match it on pvara.gov.pk |
| A link to a “PVARA verification page” sent by the platform | Lookalike domains copy the logo and colours. The real site ends in pvara.gov.pk | Close it. Type the address yourself |
| Support or “account managers” on WhatsApp or Telegram using personal numbers | Licensees must publish their complaints process and support channels on their website. A personal number is not that | Do not share CNIC photos, OTPs or screen access. Leave the group |
| Deposits to a personal bank account, JazzCash or Easypaisa number | A licensed company has no reason to collect rupees through a private person. This is how money disappears and how bank accounts get frozen | Do not send money |
| “PVARA has approved this coin” or “government backed token” | PVARA’s FAQ says a listing notification “does not constitute approval of the virtual asset” | Treat it as false |
| Fixed daily or monthly profit, or a bonus for bringing friends | No regulator licenses guaranteed profit. This is the pattern of deposit and Ponzi apps | Walk away and warn others |
| Only an SECP incorporation certificate is shown | A company registration is not a PVARA licence | Ask for the PVARA licence number and check it |
| An app store listing with many five star reviews | An app store listing is not a regulator’s approval, and reviews can be bought | Go back to pvara.gov.pk |
I list live examples that readers send me on my scam alert page. The same rule applies to my own name: I never take investments or ask for money to trade, so any account doing that in my name is fake.
What to do if a platform is not listed on PVARA
Not listed means not confirmed. That is true for a famous global brand and for an app you saw yesterday. Here is how I would handle it.
- Do not deposit. No offer expires so fast that you cannot wait for the regulator.
- Do not treat an NOC, an application or a big brand name as a licence. The table above is the rule.
- Do not use P2P through your bank account, JazzCash or Easypaisa as a way around it. It is a real risk in Pakistan, not a method. I explain why in how to buy crypto in Pakistan legally.
- If you already have money on such a platform, do not add more because someone promises a licence is “coming next week”. Keep your records: account emails, transaction IDs and screenshots.
- Know who the law targets. Under section 54 of the Act, wilfully providing an unlicensed virtual asset service can bring up to five years in prison, a fine of up to PKR 50 million, or both. That penalty is aimed at the provider. Under section 61, PVARA can also order websites, apps, ads and payment links of unlicensed services to be blocked, so an unlisted app can stop working without warning.
- Use the waiting time to learn. Practise with paper trades in my 30 day beginner plan and read the crypto safety guide in my free playbooks. Neither needs a deposit.
- Check again once a month, or whenever you see a headline about a licence.
Where to complain about a fake or unlicensed crypto platform
PVARA has a complaints page with four complaint types: suspected fraud, unlicensed VASP, service provider misconduct, and other grievances. The form itself opens on PVARA’s portal at portal.pvara.gov.pk. The page says you get an acknowledgment within 2 business days, a reference number to track your complaint, and that a full investigation may take 30 to 60 days.
Before you file, collect this:
- The app or website name, its full web address and the company name it uses
- Screenshots of the “PVARA approved” claim, the certificate or the ad, with the date visible
- Phone numbers, WhatsApp or Telegram usernames and group links
- Transaction IDs and bank or wallet statements, if you paid anything
- A short timeline in your own words
If you lost money, a regulator complaint is not enough on its own. You will usually also need the cyber crime agency and your bank, and speed matters. I have put every official channel, in the right order, on one page: report a scam or check a licence in Pakistan. One warning from experience: anyone who offers to recover your money for a fee is almost always running a second scam. The common patterns are in my guide to crypto scams in Pakistan.
Older articles still point to a PVARA “grievance cell” web address. That address did not open when I tried it on 12 November 2026. Use the Complaints link in the menu of pvara.gov.pk instead.
PVARA licence checklist you can save
- I typed pvara.gov.pk myself and the address bar ends in .gov.pk
- PVARA names the company by its legal name
- The status is a full licence, not an NOC, sandbox, application or MoU
- The licence category covers what I want to do (Exchange Services for buying and selling)
- The company’s own site shows the same legal name, licence number, Pakistan office and categories
- Rupee deposits go to the company’s own account, never to a person
- Support and complaints run through the official website, not personal WhatsApp or Telegram numbers
- Nobody promised me fixed profit or asked me to recruit others
If you cannot tick every line, the answer is to wait.
FAQ: checking a PVARA licence
Does a PVARA licence mean my money or the coin is safe?
No. A licence means the company is supervised and must follow rules on client assets, security and disclosures. It does not protect you from price falls, and PVARA does not approve or guarantee any coin. Its FAQ says a listing notification “does not constitute approval of the virtual asset”. Licensees must also publish risk warnings about volatility, hacks and scams.
Can a licence be cancelled after I check it?
Yes. PVARA can suspend or revoke a licence, for example where it was obtained with false information or the firm stops meeting requirements. This is why the law says the register must show each licensee’s current regulatory status. Check again before any large deposit, not just once.
Is there a phone number to confirm a licence with PVARA?
I did not see a public helpline number on the PVARA pages I checked on 12 November 2026. The site shows an email address for licensing queries and the online complaint form. Be careful with any “PVARA helpline” number that reaches you through an ad or a message.
A bank or a famous company announced a crypto partnership. Is that a licence?
No. PVARA issued an advisory on April 26, 2026 saying that any agreement or pilot that enables virtual asset services for users in Pakistan needs its prior authorisation, and it warns that an activity announced without engaging PVARA “may not lawfully proceed”. A press release is not a licence.
When will the first licensed exchange appear?
I do not know, and PVARA has not published a date that I could find. Licensing rules were notified on August 21, 2026 and the application portal is open. PVARA’s FAQ says it decides a complete licence application within 90 days, and can extend that by up to 60 days for complex cases, so the earliest applications filed after August 2026 could be decided in late 2026 or early 2027. One outside report, from TechX, expects the first licences in that window, but that is an expectation, not an official statement. The check in this guide will tell you the day it happens.
Checking a licence takes five minutes and costs nothing. Do it before every new platform, trust the regulator’s website over any ad, and when the answer is unclear, wait. If you have a question about a specific message or app you received, you can send it to me through Ask Ismail.
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