President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan has signed new legislation to reinforce the nation’s stance against illegal crypto mining and asset issuance. Kazakhstan, one of the largest Bitcoin mining centers in the world, intends to implement new crypto regulations to curb tax fraud and illegal business activities.
The first piece of legislation requires secure digital asset issuers to obtain government approval and face monitoring under the existing law “On Combating the Legalization (Laundering) of Proceeds from Crime and the Financing of Terrorism”. This law will take effect on April 1, 2023.
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The second piece of legislation targets unsecured digital assets earned through crypto mining operations. To prevent tax evasion, crypto miners in Kazakhstan must sell at least 75% of their revenue through registered crypto exchanges. This rule, aimed at collecting information for tax purposes, will be in effect from January 1, 2024 to January 1, 2025.
All crypto mining licenses in Kazakhstan are valid for a limited three-year period, with variations based on whether the miner owns the mining facilities or not.
In addition to these laws, Kazakhstan has also launched its central bank digital currency (CBDC) project, the “digital tenge”. The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) and Binance, a crypto exchange, jointly published a report detailing the bank’s vision of bridging traditional finance and DeFi through the digital tenge.
Previously, in October 2022, the Astana Financial Services Authority granted Binance a permanent license to operate a digital asset platform and provide custody services.
