New York City Mayor Eric Adams met with Pakistan’s Minister of State for Crypto and Blockchain, Bilal Bin Saqib, this week in a bid to strengthen ties between the two governments on digital finance.
In a symbolic exchange during their meeting at Gracie Mansion, Adams told Saqib, “We consider New York to be Lahore,” underscoring a push for closer cooperation between two growing players in blockchain and Web3 policy.
The engagement marked a key milestone in Saqib’s official visit to the United States, where he has been promoting Pakistan’s efforts to develop a regulatory and innovation-friendly environment for digital assets.
According to a statement from Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance, discussions were held on collaboration between the New York Crypto Council and Pakistan’s newly formed Crypto Council both government-backed entities aimed at shaping policy in the emerging sector.
Topics covered in the meeting included joint programmes for knowledge exchange, regulatory alignment and development of the digital economy. The two officials also explored capacity-building initiatives and strategic cooperation to navigate shared challenges in regulating digital assets.
Saqib’s visit to New York concluded a wider US tour that included meetings with policymakers and industry leaders. Earlier in Washington, he held talks at the White House with Robert ‘Bo’ Hines, Executive Director of the Council on Digital Assets under former President Donald Trump.
Those talks centred on US-Pakistan cooperation in blockchain, including the integration of Bitcoin and the broader implications of decentralised finance. A significant portion of the discussion focused on Pakistan’s recently disclosed strategic Bitcoin reserves, which the country sees as part of its broader digital finance roadmap.
