Kazakhstan's central bank issue first license for crypto exchange operations

The central bank of Kazakhstan has issued its first license for crypto exchange operations under the country’s recently updated legislation for digital assets.

The permit will allow the authorized company to buy, sell and store cryptocurrency outside the narrow legal framework of the financial hub in the nation’s capital, Astana.

Kazakhstan starts licensing cryptocurrency exchanges

The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) has granted the first license for crypto exchange services to a local company called Pax Finance.

The Astana-based entity will now be able to trade, keep and swap digital currencies for fiat, open branches and install Bitcoin ATMs across the country.

The platform will be operating within the country’s revamped regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency market, the business news outlet Kursiv reported Thursday.

In an announcement released a day earlier, the NBK reminded that the licensing regime for participants in the industry was introduced on May 1, 2026.

To operate legally in the Central Asian nation, crypto firms are required to also register with the monetary authority, the bank noted in a Telegram post on Wednesday.

Pax Finance was established on May 20, the media report further detailed. Among its founders are some prominent representatives of Kazakhstan’s financial space and fintech sector.

These include Arman Batayev, the owner of the Finmentor.kz channel on Telegram, who previously worked at EY and AIFC, the Astana International Financial Center.

And also Azat Bekmagambetov, one of the earliest members of Kazakhstan’s crypto industry and a founder of Central Asia’s first Web3 accelerator for crypto and blockchain startups.

Exchange license opens new chapter in Kazakhstan’s crypto history

Kazakhstan appeared on the global crypto map as a promising mining destination in the wake of a ban on the activity in China a few years ago.

To offer miners a legal option to exchange their minted coins, it initially allowed crypto trading exclusively on platforms operated by residents of the AIFC.

Cryptocurrency was formally recognized with the law “On Digital Assets” which entered into force in 2023, although transactions with it remained quite limited.

Nevertheless, digital currencies continued to be traded mostly on a peer-to-peer basis, on unregistered exchanges, or platforms based abroad.

This year, Kazakh authorities took a series of steps as part of new efforts to fight this shadowy turnover and turn the country into a regional crypto hub.

In early May, amendments were made to the Digital Assets Act, and later that month, the NBK adopted additional bylaws designed to legalize crypto-related flows.

The revised legislation envisages authorizing coin trading beyond the restrictive regime of the AIFC and aims to comprehensively regulate cryptocurrency circulation.

The crypto exchange license now marks the first time such a platform has been admitted to Kazakhstan’s wider regulated market for digital assets.

It comes against the backdrop of an ongoing crackdown on illegal trading activities. Local media previously unveiled that law enforcement agencies have shut down around 130 venues of this kind.

These entities, out of business as of the beginning of 2026, had processed a combined $127 million in transactions involving digital money.

The Kazakh authorities also said they had seized over $5 million worth of various property as part of their dismantling.

The government in Astana has been suspecting significant capital flight through cross-border transfers using cryptocurrencies, with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev calling on officials to end the outflow of funds.

At the same time, the country is moving towards legalizing crypto payments inside its jurisdiction, as recently reported by Cryptopolitan.

While the national currency, the tenge, will remain the only legal tender in the case of direct purchases, crypto owners will be able to spend their coins on goods and services without breaking the law, using crypto cards that offer instant conversion to fiat.

Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.