In 2023, Kazakhstan’s Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) took action against nearly a thousand crypto exchanges operating without proper registration, blocking access to 980 illegal platforms. The FMA, led by Ruslan Ostroumov, disclosed this information during a meeting of the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering in China. The agency also launched nine probes into “unlawful exchange activities” and potential money laundering cases.
The Digital Assets Law, enacted in February 2023, mandates that digital currencies and cryptocurrency exchange activities require national licensing. The Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), functioning as a special economic zone, grants preliminary approval for operations.
Major international platforms are among the unlicensed exchanges blocked, including Coinbase, which Kazakh citizens couldn’t access in November due to a Ministry of Culture and Information order. The Ministry cited a violation of the Digital Assets Law and clarified that the request originated from the Ministry of Digital Development.
Approved to operate in Kazakhstan are Binance, Bybit, CaspianEx, Biteeu, ATAIX, Upbit, and Xignal&MT. The FMA’s actions align with regulatory efforts to enforce compliance with the Digital Assets Law and combat illegal exchange operations and money laundering.
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