KARACHI: The Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) on Friday announced approval and launch of a regulatory sandbox for virtual assets.

The announcement, shared on the authority’s social media platforms said PVARA “has formally approved and launched its regulatory sandbox for virtual assets.”

It adds that the “sandbox creates a live, supervised environment for testing real-world use cases, including tokenisation, stablecoins, remittances, and on- and off- ramp infrastructure under regulatory oversight”.

The post said that official guidelines for PVARA’s sandbox would be published in the authority’s website soon, but no details had been released until the time of going to press.

According to SECP’s website, a “regulatory sandbox is a tailored regulatory environment for conducting limited-scale, live tests of innovative products, services, processes, and/or business models in a controlled environment for a limited period of time.”

It further adds that this is “to assess their visibility to be launched on full-scale, and to determine the compatible and enabling regulatory environment that will be conducive for the innovative solutions.”

PVARA’s sandbox will allow for a controlled testing environment where web3 start-ups can trial innovative products and services under relaxed regulatory conditions, to inform new regulations that balance innovation and consumer protection.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2026