“We have currently established our initial vision, held meetings with participants from the financial market, and are awaiting their proposals, which we will adapt within the framework of the regulatory sandbox [a special experimental legal regime for innovative projects]. We plan to include a proposal in the draft law by August 2025,” – stated Sholpankulov.
The National Bank expects that the new amendments will make the digital asset market more transparent and accessible to citizens, allowing them to freely buy and sell cryptocurrency. Accurate data on the potential market volume is currently unavailable; however, it is estimated to be between $0.5–1 billion in neighboring countries.
During an extended government meeting, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized the necessity of creating infrastructure for the legal circulation of digital assets in Kazakhstan. Currently, cryptocurrency operations are permitted only on licensed exchanges of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). However, experts estimate that only 5% of Kazakhstani crypto investors utilize this platform, while others prefer to operate in the “gray zone.”
In mid-November, the head of the National Bank, Timur Suleimenov, announced that Kazakhstan may legalize crypto exchanges. He pointed out the experiences of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, where the issuance and circulation of digital assets are allowed throughout their territories. According to him, these countries significantly outpace Kazakhstan in cryptocurrency trading volumes, and their experience should be adopted.
As of early 2023, eight cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Bybit, ATAIX Eurasia, Biteeu, CaspianEx, BigOne, Delta DA, and Xignal&MT, were licensed in Kazakhstan. The total trading volume on these platforms exceeds $240 million, with over 50,000 registered users.