On January 14, 2026, Pakistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SC Financial Technologies LLC, an affiliate of World Liberty Financial (WLF) — widely described as a Trump family-linked crypto venture.
The MoU aims to explore “digital finance innovation,” including potential use of USD1, described as a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin for cross-border flows.
Media coverage and official statements identify Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Zachary Witkoff as signatories.
This wasn’t a casual meeting.
It was state signaling. Unlike before when Miftah did not answer Web 3.0 question.
The Missing Context: Big Tech Is Already Eating Banking Alive
Before we argue about USD1, we need to understand what “banking” even means in 2026.
Banking is no longer a building.
Banking is:
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identity
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payments
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settlement
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compliance
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data
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cloud infrastructure
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and distribution
And Big Tech already controls half of that stack.
Meta/Facebook didn’t “talk” about banking — it got regulated access
Meta’s payments arm in Europe received an e-money license in Ireland, allowing it to issue e-money and provide payment services across the EU framework.
That’s not a meme. That’s regulatory entry.
Google is not a “bank” — but it doesn’t need to be
Google operates deep in merchant payments, payouts, and onboarding frameworks via Google Pay/Payments, which is infrastructure.
Amazon and Microsoft dominate the “pipes” finance runs on
US policy research has highlighted how Amazon, Microsoft, and Google account for a massive share of cloud services used by financial institutions.
And in late 2025, EU regulators designated Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft among the “critical” tech providers under DORA — basically acknowledging:
If these platforms go down, finance goes down.
So yes — the future of banking is being written by tech companies, even if the logo on the door still says “Bank.”
So Why Does Pakistan’s Stablecoin MoU Matter?
Because stablecoins are the bridge between:
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“traditional banking we don’t trust”
and -
“tech-led money rails we can’t avoid”
Pakistan is a dollar economy even when dollars are scarce. Imports, trade settlement, even price expectations — everything breathes USD.
This is why stablecoin pilots tempt emerging markets:
1) Remittances: the biggest obvious use case
Pakistan relies on diaspora inflows heavily. Cross-border rails are expensive, slow, and fee-hungry.
Stablecoins promise faster settlement, lower leakage — if regulated.
2) Trade settlement: less friction, less delay
Importers don’t just lose money through exchange rates. They lose through timing, clearance delays, and middlemen spread.
3) Digital finance isn’t optional anymore
A country can either shape its rails or become a consumer of someone else’s rails.
And Big Tech loves countries that become “consumers.”
Why The Public Smell Test Is Failing
Because Pakistan has a repeated pattern:
