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Binance Among Crypto Exchanges Blocked as Uzbekistan Clamps Down
FTX and Huobi are also inaccessible as the authorities restrict access to unlicensed centralized trading platforms.
Updated May 11, 2023, 6:11 p.m. Published Aug 11, 2022, 12:36 p.m.
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The websites of global cryptocurrency exchanges have been blocked in Uzbekistan, the National Agency for Perspective Projects said Wednesday.
Gleb Kostarev, Binance's head of Eastern Europe, confirmed that the exchange's website hasn't been accessible for users in Uzbekistan since Tuesday. Huobi, FTX, Bybit and others are also blocked, he said.
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Binance is negotiating with Uzbekistan authorities about the exchange's status in the country, the company said in a statement.
"Binance continues to mature and expand across CIS as a more traditionally regulated fintech organization," the statement reads. CIS, or the Commonwealth of Independent States, is an organization of former Soviet republics.
According to the agency's announcement, Uzbekistan restricted access to cryptocurrency exchanges and over-the-counter brokers because the country's regulations don't allow citizens to trade crypto on foreign platforms.
Under a law from 2018, crypto mining pools, exchanges, custodians and "crypto shops" must be licensed to operate in the country. Back then, the country was looking to attract global crypto exchanges into the country with tax benefits.
The agency told the Forklog news service that foreign platforms still need a license to operate in Uzbekistan. The only exchange that have gotten one so far is the local exchange UzNEX, Forklog wrote.
In May, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the country's president, published a framework for regulating cryptocurrencies and assigned the National Agency for Perspective Projects the role of the industry's watchdog.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Iran accepts cryptocurrency as payment for advanced weapons
Prospective customers could purchase weapons such as missiles, tanks and drones using crypto, according to a government website.
What to know:
- Iran's Ministry of Defence Export Center is accepting cryptocurrency payments for advanced weapons systems as a means of bypassing international sanctions that the country faces.
- The offer is among the first known instances of a country accepting cryptocurrency as a means of payment for military equipment, according to the Financial Times.
- The facility for using cryptocurrency to pay for transactions involving sanctioned countries is already well established.
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