- The exchanges that were shut down were operating without proper registration
- The Ministry of Culture of Kazakhstan blocked Coinbase’s website
- Only Binance, Upbit, Bybit, Biteeu, and Xignal&MT have been approved to operate
Kazakh authorities have blocked almost 1,000 unlicensed crypto exchanges so far this year, and the Asian country’s financial regulator, the Financial Monitoring Agency, has launched nine investigations into money laundering and other illegal operations, Cointelegraph wrote, citing a press release on the government’s website.
The exchanges that were shut down were operating without proper registration, said Ruslan Ostroumov, the chairman of the FMA, during a meeting of the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering in China.
Major international platforms among offenders
Leading international exchanges are on the list of blocked and unlicensed platforms. The Ministry of Culture of Kazakhstan blocked Coinbase’s website in November 2023. Representatives of the ministry told reporters the respective request had come from another authority, the Ministry of Digital Development, which accused the US exchange of violating the Digital Assets Law.
This is a fairly recent piece of legislation, passed in February this year. It mandates cryptocurrency trading platforms and exchanges to obtain a national license before they can operate. Preliminary approval of operations is granted by the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), functioning as a distinct economic zone in the country.
Only Binance, Upbit, Bybit, Biteeu, CaspianEx, ATAIX, and Xignal&MT have been approved to operate in the Asian country so far.
Kazakhstan joins Hong Kong, US in regulatory crackdown
At the end of November, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee told local media the government would cooperate if regulators needed more authority to crack down on unlicensed crypto exchanges.
His comments came in response to an investigation into the activity of Hounax, an unlicensed digital asset trading platform that has been accused of scamming users out of millions. 145 people claimed they had lost a collective HK$148 million ($19 million).
Around the same time, Bankless Times reported that Kraken is a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The exchange has been accused of operating as an unregistered dealer, broker, and clearing agency.
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