Pakistan has signed an agreement with SC Financial Technologies, an affiliate of World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency business linked to US President Donald Trump's family, to explore using the USD1 stablecoin for cross-border payments.

The Pakistan Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority announced the memorandum of understanding would enable "dialogue and technical understanding around emerging digital payment architectures". Under the agreement, SC Financial Technologies will work with Pakistan's central bank to integrate USD1 into a regulated digital payments structure alongside the country's own digital currency infrastructure.

The deal was signed during a visit to Pakistan by World Liberty co-founder and chief executive officer Zach Witkoff, son of US special envoy Steve Witkoff. A government photograph showed finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Witkoff signing the agreement, with prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief General Asim Munir in attendance.

David Wachsman, spokesman for World Liberty Financial, said the agreement "could help ensure that the US dollar will remain the world's reserve currency". He added that World Liberty Financial is not receiving financial compensation from the arrangement.

Aurangzeb said Pakistan's focus was on "engaging with credible global players, understanding new financial models, and ensuring that innovation, where explored, is aligned with regulation, stability, and national interest".

Pakistan sees over 36 billion dollars in annual remittance inflows and has an estimated 40 million cryptocurrency users, according to the regulator. The country's central bank governor said in July it was preparing to launch a pilot for a digital currency and finalising legislation to regulate virtual assets.

The announcement represents one of the first publicly announced partnerships linking World Liberty, launched in September 2024, with a sovereign state. Government ethics experts have described the growth of the Trump family's cryptocurrency initiatives whilst Trump oversees US crypto policy as a conflict of interest, though the White House has denied any such conflicts exist.

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