Kazakhstan's Financial Authority Blocks Access To Nearly A Thousand Illegal Crypto Exchanges

Coinbase is banned in Kazakhstan (photo: x @coinbase)

JAKARTA - In 2023, the Kazakhstan Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) blocks access to nearly a thousand crypto exchanges that serve citizens without appropriate registration.

According to a press release on December 7 published on government websites, the FMA rejected access to 980 illegal platforms by 2023. They also started nine investigations into "illegal exchange operations" and money laundering. This information was disclosed by the FMA chairman, Ruslan Ostroumov, during a meeting of the Eurasian Group to Combat Money Laundering in China.

The Digital Asset Law, which took effect in February 2023, prohibits the creation and trading of digital currencies as well as crypto exchange activities except for obtaining a national license. The Astana International Finance Center (AIFC), which functions as a special economic zone in Kazakhstan, is responsible for granting initial approval for the operation.

The list of unlicensed exchanges blocked include several major international platforms. In November, it was discovered that Kazakh citizens were unable to access Coinbase's website after an order from the Ministry of Culture and Information that blocked it.

The ministry's representative explained to reporters that the request came from different government agencies, namely the Ministry of Digital Development, which accused Coinbase of violating the Digital Assets Act.

To date, Binance, Bybit, CaspianEx, Biteu, ATAIX, Upbit, and Xignal&MT have been approved to operate in the country