The financial authorities in Kazakhstan have announced restrictions on a record number of platforms providing crypto exchange services over the past year. The development comes amid efforts to regulate and expand the legal crypto market in the country.
With the country aiming to become a regional hub for digital assets, the Financial Monitoring Agency of Kazakhstan (AFM) stated that it has prevented more than 1,100 unlicensed online exchangers from providing services in the Central Asian nation. The figure was announced by its head, Zhanat Elimanov, who reported on the watchdog’s operations in 2025 to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev this week.
Kazakhstan blocks unlicensed crypto trading websites
According to quotes by the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda daily on Monday, the official revealed his subordinates have completed investigations into 1,135 criminal cases involving money and returned 141.5 billion tenge (over $277 million) to victims of such crimes last year. The government body has also dismantled 15 criminal groups and 29 organizations providing cash services outside the law.
In addition, it also mentioned that it thwarted the activities of 22 shadow crypto exchanges allegedly laundering proceeds from drug trafficking and fraud schemes. Meanwhile, the financial sector has stopped dealing with approximately 2,000 companies and 56,000 individuals suspected of money laundering. A total of 2.1 trillion tenge of criminal flows (over $4 billion) have been detected with the help of 35 payment institutions.
The AFM has also frozen some 20,000 bank card accounts used by money mules working for criminals, Elimanov added during the briefing of the president. For his part, Tokaev issued a number of instructions in key areas of responsibility for the agency. In 2025, the government lifted some restrictions on the minting of digital coins and sought to expand crypto trading outside the narrow legal framework of the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), as reported by Cryptopolitan.
As part of efforts to turn the country into a Eurasian crypto hub, the Kazakh authorities intend to legalize investments in digital assets, although payments with them will remain prohibited beyond a special pilot project called CryptoCity. At the same time, unauthorized cryptocurrency transactions have been the target of coordinated law enforcement actions targeting multiple institutions.
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