A 35-year-old crypto bro helped Pakistan win over Trump world

At an ornate building in the heart of Islamabad, Pakistan’s most powerful leaders gathered in January to welcome a special visitor: Zachary Witkoff, chief executive officer of World Liberty Financial, the crypto platform co-founded by US President Donald Trump.

The prestigious guest list made the event look more like a state visit than a ceremony for a non-binding stablecoin agreement that is exploratory in nature and doesn’t involve a major financial commitment. A group photo showed the 32-year-old son of Trump adviser Steve Witkoff flanked by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, the nation’s even more powerful military chief.

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Standing on the other side of Munir was a key player in transforming the relationship between the US and Pakistan over the past year: Bilal Bin Saqib, a 35-year-old self-described “crypto bro” who says he worked three jobs to get through college, including cleaning toilets. At the event, Saqib hailed the visit by Zachary Witkoff and other World Liberty Financial executives as helping to “put Pakistan on the map.”

Pakistan’s adept use of crypto diplomacy — or “biplomacy” as Saqib calls it, a reference to Bitcoin — has buttressed a burgeoning friendship between Trump and Munir. The red carpet treatment in Islamabad for the American president’s family business underscores the growing depth of an increasingly important geopolitical relationship, seen by Pakistan’s emergence as a key intermediary between the US and Iran in a war that threatens to upend the global economy.

Steve Witkoff confirmed last week that Pakistan delivered a 15-point action plan, and Islamabad has also been mentioned as a potential venue for any talks ahead of Trump’s April 6 deadline for Iran to strike a deal or face attacks on critical infrastructure. Pakistan also has an incentive to get this resolved: The country is facing the prospect of an acute energy shortage as Iran blocks most ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

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“Given how important personal connections are in the Trump White House’s policy process, Pakistan may well have bought itself some influence in the White House that advantaged it when it pitched itself to Washington as a mediator,” said Michael Kugelman, resident senior fellow for South Asia at the Washington-based Atlantic Council, citing the deals with Zachary Witkoff. “With this unconventional US administration, unconventional factors can help your cause — and that’s certainly the case with crypto.”

Plucked from relative obscurity last year, Saqib has suddenly become one of Pakistan’s most influential figures. He’s forged partnerships with crypto luminaries such as Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, the billionaire founder of Binance Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest cryptocurrency-exchange. He’s also rubbed shoulders with the likes of fund manager Cathie Wood, Bitcoin billionaire Michael Saylor and Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s president who made Bitcoin legal tender in 2021 and established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Fund.