ZURICH: Minister of State and Chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), Bilal Bin Saqib, said at the Point Zero Forum in Zurich, that the world is moving beyond the future of finance into an era where artificial intelligence and autonomous systems will increasingly make decisions, conduct transactions and shape the global balance of power.
The Point Zero Forum 2026, held in Zurich, Switzerland, this week and is a leading global platform that brings together over 2000 participants including central bankers, regulators, policymakers, fintech innovators, and industry leaders to discuss the future of finance and financial technology.
“We are not just entering the future of finance. We are entering the future of agency. AI will decide. Software will transact. Machines will negotiate, settle and execute in real time,” Chairman PVARA made it clear in his message at the forum.
“The real divide ahead will be between nations that shape autonomous intelligence, and nations that simply live inside systems built by others. This is not science fiction. It is being engineered now,” he added.
Speaking at the global forum, Bilal Bin Saqib noted that for centuries machines remained tools operated by humans, but that paradigm is rapidly changing.
He said finance is only the beginning, warning that autonomous systems are set to transform logistics, energy and security, with entire economies increasingly relying on machines making decisions in real time.
“The most valuable thing a country can have is not just capital. It is the talent to build these systems around autonomous agents and govern them,” he said.
Calling the technological shift a major opportunity, he said Pakistan has the potential to leapfrog traditional development models and emerge as a creator of next-generation technologies.
“For a country like Pakistan, we can leapfrog and be the generators, the creators of these systems,” he added.
