ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with an affiliated entity of World Liberty Financial, a venture linked to the Trump family, to explore the use of its ‘USD1’ stablecoin for cross-border transactions.

The MoU, described as non-binding, was signed by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Zachary Witkoff, son of White House envoy Steve Witkoff and chief executive officer of SC Financial Technologies LLC, an entity associated with World Liberty Financial.

The high-profile signing ceremony held at Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) was witnessed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Tariq Fatimi, according to a PMO statement.

Footage released by the PMO showed the MoU was signed after a meeting attended by the visiting delegation and senior Pakistani officials.

PM, army chief witness high-profile signing

The PMO statement said the MoU aims to “enable structured dialogue and technical understanding around emerging digital payment architectures”, including exploring World Liberty Financial’s ‘USD1’ stablecoin for cross-border transactions.

It said the delegation, led by Zachary Witkoff, also met senior Pakistani stakeholders to discuss “secure, compliant and transparent” digital payment infrastructure, including innovations in cross-border settlement and foreign exchange processes.

The PMO said Pakistan was positioning itself in the global digital finance landscape and that World Liberty Financial was deepening its engagement with the country to explore digital payments and cross-border finance innovations.

“Pakistan recognises that the future of finance is being shaped today. Our focus is to stay ahead of the curve by engaging with credible global players, understanding new financial models and ensuring that innovation, where explored, is aligned with regulation, stability and national interest,” the PMO quoted Mr Aurangzeb as saying.

The statement said the engagement follows earlier interactions between World Liberty Financial and Pakistan, including the signing of a letter of intent in April with the Pakistan Crypto Council for knowledge-sharing and dialogue on emerging financial technologies.

Earlier on Dec 12, the newly established Pakistan Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (PVARA) issued no-objection certificates (NOCs) to Binance and HTX, enabling both platforms to initiate local incorporation in Pakistan. These NOCs were issued very rapidly in under five months, faster than comparable timelines seen in other jurisdictions globally.

As part of the engagement, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and TRON founder Justin Sun also visited Pakistan, meeting with key public and private sector stakeholders as part of broader engagement around the country’s evolving digital asset and regulatory framework.

The PMO said Pakistan was emerging as one of the most compelling frontier markets for digital payments and financial innovation, driven by over $38 billion in annual remittance inflows, a rapidly growing digital economy, an estimated 40 million crypto users, and industry estimates of up to $300bn in annual trading volume, placing the country among the largest digital asset user bases globally.

With sustained international interest and a structured, regulation-first approach, Pakistan is increasingly being viewed as a market to watch in the evolution of global digital finance, the statement said.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2026