Kazakhstan Court Jails Crypto Exchange Operators as Crackdown Continues

A court in Kazakhstan has jailed three crypto exchange operators, as the Central Asian nation steps up its crackdown on illegal crypto trading platforms.

Per an official report from the Kazakhstan government-run Financial Monitoring Agency (AFM), the court jailed the trio for between 2.5 and 3.5 years, with bailiffs confiscating assets worth $750,000.

Crypto Exchange Operators’ Houses, Cars Seized

The AFM said the three unnamed people operated a platform “without a license” and “exchanged cryptocurrencies for a fee.”

The trio reportedly used “unsecured digital assets,” operated crypto wallets, and “used funds received from crypto exchanges whose activities are prohibited in Kazakhstan.”

The AFM said the illegal exchange processed over $1.28 million worth of crypto transactions for some 380 customers. Prosecutors provided “customer” bank statements as evidence.

Bailiffs confiscated assets from the trio, “including real estate, five cars, a quad bike, and expensive computer equipment.”

Kazakh law requires crypto exchanges to obtain a license and base their activities in the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC).

International players like Binance and Bybit have successfully obtained permits. Several crypto mining players have also established offices in the AIFC.

Kazakhstan’s central bank will start selling dollars in a way that mirrors the regulator’s gold purchases from domestic producers after the national currency hit a record low this week https://t.co/P9gM9IRYtP

— Bloomberg Economics (@economics) January 17, 2025

Kazakhstan’s Crypto Crackdown

In October last year, the Kazakh Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market announced plans to force banks to automatically block clients’ transfers to crypto exchanges who operate outside the AIFC.

The Kazakh government claims that illegal crypto exchangers are often “used by criminals.”

Per AFM figures, criminals used illegal exchange platforms to process $18.8 million worth of drug-related money in 2024.

Kazakhstan’s campaign against illegal crypto exchanges began to gather pace early last year. The AFM says that it closed down 19 illegal platforms in the first nine months of 2024.

It claims that these platforms’ total turnover amounted to around $60 million.

The AFM is also waging war against illegal crypto mining and citizens they suspect of carrying out “illegal crypto transactions.”

The agency and others have launched special crypto teams that have been granted the power to freeze wallets and seize coins from suspects.

Earlier this year, the AFM announced it had blocked citizens from accessing “more than 3,500 illegal online crypto exchanges.”