US crypto rules go around Congress: what still governs you in Pakistan

The US Senate failed to pass the CLARITY Act this week, the bill that would have set out in law which federal agency regulates which crypto asset. Within a day both American market regulators moved to do it themselves without Congress.

On Thursday 18 September the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sent a crypto market proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review. The contents have not been published. It is not known which assets it covers, what exchanges would have to do to qualify, what restrictions would apply, or how far the CFTC believes its own authority reaches.

The CFTC, under chair Mike Selig, separately issued a no-action letter allowing passive software providers, including crypto wallet interfaces, to connect users to regulated derivatives markets without registering as introducing brokers, as long as they do not hold customer assets or control order routing. The SEC issued a tokenised-stock exemption the same day.

Why the rulemaking route is weaker

A statute binds. An agency rule can be rewritten by the next administration, and can be challenged in court on the ground that the agency exceeded its authority. That is precisely the question left open here.

For anyone holding crypto, the practical effect is that the American rulebook stays provisional. Prices have already priced in some of this: crypto equities sold off on the CLARITY Act failure and then rebounded.

Where the market is this morning

• Bitcoin: $81,313, up from $81,028 yesterday.
• Ethereum: $2,619.49, up from $2,601.94.

At Rs 277.42 to the dollar, one bitcoin is about Rs 2.26 crore. Live rates are on our bitcoin price and ethereum price pages, and the dollar rate page tracks the conversion.

What actually governs you in Pakistan

This is the part American coverage will not tell you: US agency rules do not license your trading. Pakistan has its own regime now, and it has already bitten.

The Virtual Assets Act, 2026 created the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), which issues three things: a regulatory sandbox approval, a No Objection Certificate for firms incorporating in Pakistan, and a full VASP licence. Schedule I of the Act sets out eleven licensable service categories, including exchange services, custody, broker-dealer, lending and borrowing, derivatives, transfer and settlement, token issuance and mining-related services.

Under section 70, any provider that was operating before 5 March 2026 had to file an NOC application by 5 September 2026 or stop operating. That deadline has passed.

So the question to ask before you move money is not what the CFTC filed on Thursday. It is whether the platform you use holds a PVARA licence or NOC, and what happens to your balance if it does not.

Three things worth checking this weekend

1. Your platform's PVARA status. Check it against the authority's own register at pvara.gov.pk rather than the platform's marketing page.
2. Withdrawal route. An unlicensed provider losing bank access is the failure mode that strands balances, and Pakistani banks have been allowed to serve licensed providers only since April 2026.
3. Your tax position. Gains are not outside the tax net because the asset is digital. If you have traded this year, the return is due on 30 September: see the deadline and how to file.

Nothing in Washington this week changes any of those three.