Pakistan and El Salvador have initiated formal diplomatic ties centered on cryptocurrency cooperation, according to a report published by Bloomberg.
The partnership follows a meeting in San Salvador between Bilal Bin Saqib, special assistant to Pakistan’s prime minister on crypto and blockchain, and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.
Pakistan recently allocated 2,000 megawatts for Bitcoin mining and intends to establish a national Bitcoin reserve. The government previously launched the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) to oversee the domestic digital asset market.
The discussions focused on knowledge-sharing in digital asset infrastructure and policy, while Pakistan plans to structure its crypto markets under regulatory oversight.
“Bitcoin keeps being an important project,” said El Salvador’s economy minister, Maria Luisa Hayem, when the government purchased seven Bitcoins despite the agreement with the IMF. “There is an asset accumulation that we’re seeing from the government perspective, from the private sector perspective.”
Pakistan is currently under a $7 billion IMF program that runs through 2027. The fund has expressed concerns about state-level digital asset purchases, but El Salvador has continued its policy regardless of the terms.