According to new footage and media reports that emerged from Islamabad, billionaire Bitcoin advocate and executive director of strategy Michael Saylor is supporting Pakistan’s state-led Bitcoin Pivot.
The call with top officials shows the latest escalation in Pakistan’s plan. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR).
Video footage posted to X by the Ministry of Finance’s Media Officer Hamid Raza Wattu shows the sailor of Finance Minister Muhammad Auranzeb and the Minister of Blockchain and Crypto Bilal bin Saqib. The meeting will be announced at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference held in Las Vegas on May 28th, when the announcement of Pakistan’s SBR was announced.
Saylor’s outreach coincides with the long-standing appeal of the Sovereign Bitcoin Reserve. He previously lobbyed US policymakers to adopt the Bitcoin strategy, but his Islamabad supports his interest in introducing Pakistan as a proof of geopolitical concept. He is reportedly becoming the official advisor of the government’s Bitcoin reserve program through Pakistan’s Crypto Council.
Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao was also appointed as the council’s strategic advisor in early April. His remittances include steering blockchain infrastructure, creating regulatory frameworks and leading the National Digital Asset Initiative. This will directly take Islamabad to the world’s largest exchange in pursuit of a Bitcoin spare plan.
The Pakistan reserve plan, defended by Bin Saqib, was introduced as a provincial initiative, with plans to use state assets to acquire Bitcoin and use domestic energy resources to mine additional BTC. Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC)Bin Saqib is also leading, 2 GW of excess energy to electricity mining facilities and data centers.
IMF tensions and energy politics
The plan sparked tensions with international lenders. The IMF raised concerns about grid stress and financial tensions if 2 GW is decoupled for mining. Pakistan is currently seeking a new relief agreement, and its power infrastructure is considered vulnerable.
Nevertheless, the PCC continued to promote the reserves as a path to “digital unalignment,” leveraging Bitcoin to reduce its reliance on the US dollar and traditional credit channels. The PCC delegation put a spare in Donald Trump’s encrypted economic team in Washington on June 4th.
Pakistan’s crypto policy remains complicated. The reserves are government-led, but under the Pakistan State Bank (SBP) guidelines, general crypto transactions are technically illegal. The government is reportedly preparing a bill for the Digital Assets Bureau that could provide legal clarity when the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance reunites.
Local analysts also take a good look. Pakistan’s pivot could cross South Asia. However, the move could destabilise major creditors like China. This has poured billions into Pakistan’s energy sector and is being poured through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
What’s next?
It remains to be seen how Saylor plans to support his ongoing role in implementing the reserve, and whether he will work directly with CZ.
In the meantime, the SBR initiative has progressed quickly. Pakistan, the world’s most prominent Bitcoin evangelist in sovereignty, surplus energy and now the world’s most well-known Bitcoin evangelist in photographs, is testing whether a vulnerable economy can hedge bets with digital gold.