The Chinese-born Chinese-born St. Kitts National Justin Sang – invested $30 million in Trump-linked World Liberty Financial (WLF), who tied up business with Pakistan – is under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, the SEC has just dropped an investigation into Zhao and may do the same with Sun, who was charged with “civil fraud” in 2023.
Not only has Trump overturned Biden’s policy approach to cryptocurrency, he has also dismantled the enforcement framework, providing new windows of opportunity for those previously approved and investigated. His administration has shut down the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which was established after the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers from fraud and risk. White House’s new AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks have described CFPB at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas as “Goon Squad,” a “terrifying crypto company.”
The bigger concern is fear fundraising. The US Treasury Department’s 2024 National Terrorist Funding Risk Assessment (NTFRA) report warns that “NTFRA in 2022 is NTFRA being able to “specific terrorist groups, such as ISIS-K and HAMAS, are increasing their understanding of different types of virtual assets.”
But Trump 2.0 has its own roadmap. After two White House executive orders, the focus is on the Genius (Guidelines and Establishment of National Innovation for US Stubcoin) bill. It will pass the Senate Banking Committee and then move the Market Regulation Structure Bill.
What Pakistan tried to do is to reflect a similar structure to encourage trade. Because the genius bill is a condition that you exchange stubcoins with countries with similar laws and structures.
US law is based on the idea that it was fixed in dollars and issued in a 1:1 model. A $1 reservation is required for one coin issued. While proposing to treat these companies on par with financial services under the U.S. Bank Services Companies Act, the Act prohibits them from other services, such as lending, borrowing, and revenue, by claiming profits.
However, the US Treasury raised the Terror Red Flag of Stablecoins in its 2024 NTFRA report.
India’s concern about the code comes from this – when Pakistan as a terrorist state is trying to match the US. The main concern of Pakistan and its own Czar Bilal Bin Saqib is to make legitimate frames compliant with FATF, although they were committed to the ropes at Zhao. Pakistan hopes to piggy back on the Genius Bill. This aims to make the US use its influence in the FATF to make it a new acceptance standard in crypto management.
However, FATF must ensure that the new frame complies with the “travel rules.” This means that every company must be able to provide data across the entire chain of transactions (from beneficiaries to beneficiaries). And that is also a five-year period, requiring massive spread of data centers that require uninterrupted power. Next is the role of the IMF.
What is common among Pakistan, El Salvador and Ethiopia? All three are stressful economies that rely on the IMF relief package, but they’re getting bigger in crypto. Does the IMF lending terms allow such exposures with links to terrorfinance and money laundering? Pakistan may need to answer some difficult questions to the IMF regarding its decision to allocate 2,000 MW of electricity for crypto mining without consultation. Or, in that respect, a one-sided announcement to set up a strategic Bitcoin reserve without prior implication.
However, Pakistan hopes Trump will win the IMF. Just like he did with El Salvador. Charismatic leader Naive Bukele invests 15% of the country’s GDP in Bitcoin. The IMF was a condition for the Salvadoran government to move gradually from such investments. Bukel was against that situation. And now, with Trump’s support, he has secured IMF approval for an additional $1.4 billion.
Pakistan received similar approval on May 9th, but Op Sindoor was on. Now he relies on Trump to overcome the fresh obstacles that arise from code announcements. It’s not just gaining legitimacy, but it reduces its dependence on the IMF by investing in Bitcoin assets.
Thus, a new political capital in the form of “cryptography” is working. India will need to recreate its playbook accordingly. It’s not necessarily about embracing ideas, but about addressing clear and evolving security questions that are certainly clear.
