Kazakhstan closed 36 illegal crypto exchanges in 2024, seizing $112M and boosting AML efforts ahead of its digital tenge launch.
In 2024, Kazakhstan eliminated 36 illicit cryptocurrency exchanges as part of its ongoing efforts to combat money laundering in the region, a 96% decrease from 2023.
The Financial Monitoring Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan announced on January 6 that 36 crypto exchanges that were operating without appropriate authorization in 2024 would be shut down.
The agency observed that illicit crypto exchanges facilitate money laundering by permitting unvetted fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat transfers. The agency issued a translated statement that stated:
“Such entities (illegal crypto exchanges) do not identify their clients and do not identify suspicious transactions. Therefore, their services are often used by cyber crooks and drug traffickers.”
“The 36 crypto exchanges, which had a total turnover of approximately 60 billion Kazakhstani tenge ($112.8 million), were destroyed,” according to the notice.
Furthermore, authorities confiscated assets valued at approximately 2.5 billion tenge ($4.8 million).
Continuous Campaign To Regulate Unlicensed Cryptocurrency Services
Kazakhstan’s Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) initiated nine investigations into “illegal exchange operations” and money laundering in 2023, in addition to blocking 980 unlicensed crypto exchanges.
Global exchanges with operational licenses, such as Binance, Bybit, CaspianEx, Biteeu, ATAIX, Upbit, and Xignal&MT, continue to operate legally in Kazakhstan, despite the crackdown.
In collaboration with the National Security Committee and the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Kazakh agency has successfully removed over 3,500 unlicensed crypto exchanges to date.
Two of the platforms that were taken offline were discovered to be operating pyramid schemes.
Authorities seized an additional 120,000 USDT and returned investments worth 545,000 USDt to victims after taking legal action.
Kazakhstan Is About To Launching CBDC In 2025
The Kazakh authorities intend to maintain their collaboration with international organizations in order to enhance transaction monitoring tools, implement legislation that penalizes money laundering avenues, and combat the criminal use of cryptocurrencies.
An in-house central bank digital currency (CBDC) is also being developed by the nation, known as the digital tenge.
Development commenced in February 2023, with an initial launch deadline of 2025.
Visa and Mastercard, as well as local institutions, have been reported to have collaborated with the nation to incorporate the CBDC into plastic cards.
According to Binur Zhalenov, the chairman of Kazakhstan’s National Payment Corporation, “It enables you to make payments with a digital tenge from any location in the world, using Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and other devices.”