Pakistan explores usd1 stablecoin for cross-border payments amid WLFI regulatory scrutiny

Pakistan is moving to test the usd1 stablecoin in its financial system as part of a broader push into digital payments and cross-border transactions.

Pakistan signs MoU to test USD1 for cross-border payments

On Wednesday, Pakistan announced a memorandum of understanding with a crypto firm tied to the Trump Family’s main digital asset business, World Liberty Financial. The deal aims to explore innovation in digital finance and the use of stablecoins for cross-border transactions.

According to Reuters, the Pakistan Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (PVARA) has entered into an agreement with SC Financial Technologies, an affiliated entity of WLFI, to assess how its USD1 token could be deployed for cross-border payments. The announcement came during WLFI founder and CEO Zach Witkoff‘s visit to Pakistan.

The memorandum is designed to enable “dialogue and technical understanding around emerging digital payment architectures” between the parties. Moreover, officials see the accord as a way to align local regulation with global innovation while keeping financial stability and national interest in view.

Notably, Witkoff also serves as CEO of SC Financial Technologies, which co-owns the USD1 brand with Strategy‘s World Liberty Financial, according to reserve documentation reviewed by the media. That shared structure has drawn attention because it concentrates control of both the platform and the stablecoin issuer.

Integration with Pakistan’s digital currency agenda

Under the agreement, the WLFI-linked company will work with Pakistan’s central bank to integrate its USD1 token into a regulated digital payments framework. A source involved in the deal said this setup would allow the stablecoin to operate alongside Pakistan’s own digital currency infrastructure instead of replacing it.

PVARA officials have previously confirmed that Pakistan intends to issue a national stablecoin as part of its plan to modernize payments and support tokenized debt. Moreover, the central bank is developing a pilot for a central bank digital currency (CBDC), which would sit at the core of the country’s future digital money system.

“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,” said Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb. His comments underline how Pakistan’s digital currency strategy seeks to balance openness to new technology with risk controls.

That said, the PVARA-SC Financial Technologies cooperation also serves as an early test of how a privately issued token and a forthcoming national stablecoin might coexist in one regulatory framework.

Regulatory pressure on WLFI in the United States

The MoU in Pakistan arrives at a sensitive moment for WLFI in the United States. On Tuesday, US Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould, urging the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to halt its review of a bank charter application submitted by the Trump-linked firm.

On January 7, World Liberty Financial filed an application with the OCC to operate as a national trust bank dedicated to stablecoin services in the US. The structure would support issuance of the company’s usd1 stablecoin and, in addition, enable it to provide custodial banking services while accessing national payment networks under OCC supervision.

The Democratic senator referenced concerns she first raised in July, when she warned the newly appointed Gould that “the OCC may soon be in the position where it has to review a stablecoin issuer application submitted by a company directly tied to President Trump and his family and to draft regulations that clearly influence the President’s finances.” However, at that time Gould reportedly characterized those concerns as hypothetical.

An October investigation highlighted that, unlike many predecessors, President Donald Trump has not placed his crypto ventures in an independent trust. Instead, most of his businesses are held in a revocable trust for which he is the sole beneficiary, with management delegated to his son Donald Trump Jr.. This arrangement has intensified scrutiny of any federal licensing process affecting his companies.

Conflict of interest fears deepen around WLFI

In her Tuesday letter, Warren argued that the scenario she described has now “gone from being ‘hypothetical'” to a concrete case for the OCC. She warned that approving the WLFI bank charter would require the agency to write rules that could “influence the profitability of the President’s company” and to “directly supervise and enforce the law against the President’s company—and its competitors.”

Therefore, Warren asked the OCC to delay its review of World Liberty Financial’s application until US President Donald Trump divests and removes all potential financial conflicts involving himself, his family members and the company. Moreover, she framed the issue as a test of the integrity of financial regulation when a sitting president is closely linked to a regulated institution.

The intensifying policy debate in Washington adds a layer of geopolitical complexity to Pakistan’s engagement with WLFI and its usd1 stablecoin. While Pakistan is pursuing cross-border stablecoin payments and digital currency pilots, US lawmakers are still questioning whether the firm behind the token can safely sit inside the federal banking perimeter.

On the market side, WLFI trades at $0.18 on the one-week chart, according to data from WLFIUSDT on TradingView. Although the price level is modest, the regulatory decisions in both Pakistan and the US could prove crucial for the project’s long-term trajectory.

In summary, Pakistan’s partnership with SC Financial Technologies positions the country as an early tester of the usd1 stablecoin within a regulated framework, even as World Liberty Financial faces mounting conflict-of-interest scrutiny over its US bank ambitions.