Report contents
APAC · Developing
Pakistan
Crypto Livability Index 2025·data to 31 Dec 2025
Scoreboard
Five pillars, then the 22 sub-pillars scored 0 to 4. Empty sub-scores are held out of the total, not zeroed.
The number behind the rank
| Raw capability score | 39 / 84 |
| P2P liquidity bonus (tie-breaker) | +3 |
| Inflation 15.8% · unbanked 73% · remittances 9.4% GDP · capital controls 0.84 · sanctions 0 | CNI 0.451 |
| Need multiplier | ×1.177 |
| Livability score | 0.546 |
Raw 39/84 = 0.464 capability. Crypto-Necessity Index 0.45, from five components: inflation 15.8% (three-year average 2023 to 2025), unbanked 73% of adults, remittances 9.4% of GDP, capital-control intensity 0.84 (KAOPEN 2023), sanctions exposure 0. Need multiplier ×1.18. Livability score 0.546, rank #18 of 79.
Three findings
The largest livability jump in the region: plus 41 places
Pakistan ranks #59 on raw capability but vaults to #18 once need is applied, the steepest positive swing measured here. The Crypto-Necessity Index is 0.45: inflation averaged 15.8%, 73% of adults are unbanked, and remittances run 9.4% of GDP. The rails are thin, but the structural demand for them is near the top of the world.
A market built on shadow liquidity the state declined to criminalise
A 2018 central-bank order still bars banks from processing crypto through the cutoff, yet Pakistan ranks third globally on crypto adoption, with an estimated 40 million users and roughly 300 billion dollars in annual trading volume moving over P2P rails on JazzCash and EasyPaisa. The institutional friction is real; the end-user peril is low, which is why the shadow market is so deep.
The remittance corridor is the load-bearing case
Against a 34.9 billion dollar formal remittance base, persistent dollar scarcity and a managed exchange rate create steady arbitrage demand for USDT, with credible estimates putting 6% to 10% of inbound flow through crypto. This is the rare market where the remittance sub-score, not speculation, anchors the need story.
In one line
"Where the rupee loses value every month and most adults have no bank account, a stablecoin is not an investment. It is a way to hold dollars and feed a family, and Pakistan built that habit before it built the law."
Watch in 2026
Trajectory 4/4, actively liberalising. The Virtual Assets Ordinance was promulgated 8 July 2025, establishing the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, which issued No Objection Certificates to Binance and HTX by December 2025. The banking ban remained in force at the cutoff and the exchanges held intent papers rather than operating licences, so the first VASPs going fully live in 2026 is the item to watch.