Pakistan’s central bank is preparing to launch a pilot for a digital currency and is finalising legislation to regulate virtual assets, Governor Jameel Ahmad said on Wednesday, as the country ramped up efforts to modernise its financial system, Reuters reported.

Central banks globally are exploring the use of digital currencies as interest in blockchain-based payments grows. Pakistan’s move follows similar steps by regulators in China, India, Nigeria and several Gulf states to test or issue digital currencies through controlled pilot programmes.

At the Reuters NEXT Asia summit in Singapore, Ahmad said Pakistan was “building up our capacity on the central bank digital currency” and hoped to roll out a pilot soon.

He was speaking on a panel alongside Sri Lanka’s central bank governor, P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, with both discussing monetary policy challenges in South Asia.

Ahmad said a new law would “lay down the foundations for the licensing and regulation” of the virtual assets sector and that the central bank was in touch with some tech partners.

The move builds on efforts by the government-backed Pakistan Crypto Council, set up in March to drive virtual asset adoption. The PCC is exploring bitcoin mining using surplus energy, has appointed Binance founder Changpeng Zhao as a strategic adviser and plans to establish a state-run bitcoin reserve, read the report.

It has also held talks with U.S.-based crypto firms, including the Trump-linked World Liberty Financial.

In May, the State Bank of Pakistan clarified that virtual assets were not illegal. However, it advised financial institutions not to engage with them until a formal licensing framework was in place.

“There are risks associated, and at the same time, there are opportunities in this new emerging field. So we have to evaluate and manage the risk very carefully, and at the same time not allow to let go the opportunity,” he said on the panel.

On Wednesday, Pakistan’s state minister on blockchain and crypto, Bilal bin Saqib, said in a statement that Pakistan’s government had approved the “Virtual Assets Act, 2025” creating an independent regulator to license and oversee the crypto sector.

Ahmad said the central bank would continue to maintain a tight policy stance to stabilise inflation within its 5–7% medium-term target.

Pakistan has cut its benchmark rate from a peak of 22% to 11% over the past year, as inflation slumped from 38% in May 2023 to 3.2% in June, averaging 4.5% in the 2025 fiscal year just ended, a nine-year low.

“We are now seeing the results of this tight monetary policy transfer, both on our inflation as well as on the external account,” he said.

Ahmad said Pakistan was not overly exposed to dollar weakness, noting its foreign debt was mostly dollar-denominated and only 13% comprised Eurobonds or commercial loans.

“We don’t see any major impact,” he said, adding that reserves had risen to $14.5 billion from under $3 billion two years ago.

Ahmad said Pakistan’s three-year $7 billion IMF programme, which runs through September 2027, was on track and had resulted in reforms in fiscal policy, energy pricing and the foreign exchange market, Reuters reported.

“We are confident that after that (IMF programme), maybe we will not require an immediate (follow-up).”

Asked whether Pakistan had financing plans lined up for upcoming military equipment purchases, particularly imports from China, Pakistan’s central bank governor said he was not aware of such plans.

The first astronauts in more than 40 years from India, Poland and Hungary arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday, ferried there by SpaceX on a private flight.

The crew of four will spend two weeks at the orbiting lab, performing dozens of experiments. They launched Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, AP reported.

America’s most experienced astronaut, Peggy Whitson, is the commander of the visiting crew. She works for Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the chartered flight.

Besides Whitson, the crew includes India’s Shubhanshu Shukla, a pilot in the Indian Air Force; Hungary’s Tibor Kapu, a mechanical engineer; and Poland’s Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, a radiation expert and one of the European Space Agency’s project astronauts on temporary flight duty.

No one has ever visited the International Space Station from those countries before. The time anyone rocketed into orbit from those countries was in the late 1970s and 1980s, traveling with the Soviets.

Speaking in both English and their native languages, the new arrivals shared hugs and handshakes with the space station’s seven full-time residents, celebrating with drink pouches sipped through straws. Six nations were represented: four from the U.S., three from Russia and one each from Japan, India, Poland and Hungary.

“We have so many countries at the same time on the space station,” Kapu said, adding that seven of the 11 astronauts are first-time space fliers “which also tells me how much space is expanding.”

Added Uznanski-Wisniewski: “We will all try to do the best representing our countries.” Shukla rated the experience so far as “fantastic … wonderful.”

The space station’s commander, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, said he was happy to finally see their smiling faces after “waiting for you guys so long.” Whitson also made note of the lengthy delay and preflight quarantine.

To stay healthy, the four newcomers went into quarantine on May 25, stuck in it as their launch kept getting delayed. The latest postponement was for space station leak monitoring, NASA wanted to make sure everything was safe following repairs to a longtime leak on the Russian side of the outpost.

It’s the fourth Axiom-sponsored flight to the space station since 2022. The company is one of several that are developing their own space stations due to launch in the coming years. NASA plans to abandon the International Space Station in 2030 after more than three decades of operation, and is encouraging private ventures to replace it.

President Donald Trump announced he will sign an executive order this week extending the deadline for TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, by another 90 days—pushing the deadline into mid-September.

This extension marks the third reprieve since the original ban deadline passed on January 19 under a US protection Act.

Trump justified the move by emphasizing ongoing efforts to finalize a sale while ensuring U.S. user data protection.

Critics argue Trump’s repeated extensions may exceed legal authority, citing that the law permits only one such extension .

Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike have voiced concerns, warning that the law’s requirements haven’t been met and further delays could undermine U.S. national security.

A near-final deal led by Oracle was disrupted after new U.S. tariffs triggered Beijing’s refusal to approve the transaction.

With China’s approval still pending and legal limits tested, analysts express skepticism over whether further extensions are viable or sustainable.