In an ornate building in the heart of Islamabad, Pakistan’s most powerful leaders gathered in January to welcome a special visitor: Zachary Witkoff, CEO of World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency platform co-founded by US President Donald Trump.The prestigious guest list made the event feel more like a state visit than a celebration of a non-binding stablecoin agreement that is exploratory in nature and does not involve a major financial commitment. A group photo showed Trump adviser Steve Witkoff’s 32-year-old son, flanked by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir. Standing across from Munir was a key player in transforming the US-Pakistan relationship over the past year: Bilal bin Saqib, 35, a self-described “crypto brother” who says he worked three jobs to complete his college degree, including cleaning toilets.
At the event, Saqib hailed the visit by Zachary Witkoff and other World Liberty Financial executives as having helped “put Pakistan on the map.”Raised from relative obscurity, Saqib suddenly became one of the most influential figures in Pakistan. He has forged partnerships with prominent figures in the cryptocurrency space such as Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, the billionaire founder of Binance Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
He also collaborates with the likes of fund manager Cathie Wood, Bitcoin billionaire Michael Saylor, and Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador who made legal tender for Bitcoin in 2021 and created a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Fund.Last month, Saqib posted a selfie with Zachary Witkoff and other company executives at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. This came at the same time that Pakistan reached an agreement with the United States to renovate the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan.
“Because of cryptocurrencies, doors have opened,” Saqib said in a recent interview. “New conversations have opened up, and trust has been built. We have an opportunity to reshape our brand.”It remains unclear exactly how he rose to become one of the most influential officials in Pakistan in such a short period of time. Saqib, who is originally from Lahore, said his interest in cryptocurrencies began during Bitcoin’s historic rally in 2017, when it rose from less than $1,000 in January to $14,000 by the end of the year.It didn’t take long for Saqib to make his mark after he started working with the Pakistani government in March 2025. The following month, he convinced Binance’s Zhao to sign on as a strategic advisor to the Pakistan Cryptocurrency Board. Trump would end up pardoning Zhao in October. About three weeks later, Saqib hosted World Liberty Financial’s Zachary Witkoff and other executives in Islamabad, where the company signed a “letter of intent” with the Pakistani government to deepen cooperation on stablecoin adoption.The Trump family business is also expected to benefit from access to the virtual assets market in Pakistan. The country has 40 million cryptocurrency users with an estimated trading volume of more than $300 billion, according to the Finance Ministry, one of the highest adoption rates in the world as residents look for investment alternatives in an economy suffering from chronic inflation.Trump has also shown that he can quickly turn against any leader, no matter how friendly. He could demand that Pakistan, which last year signed a defense pact with Saudi Arabia, to join the fight against Iran in some way — a scenario that would put Munir in a bind. However, for Saqib, the focus is on building technological skills among Pakistan’s younger generations so that they can develop the economy and avoid turning to the IMF every few years for money.
