The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) Committee for the Regulation of Financial Services (AFSA) has granted a full regulatory licence to the cryptocurrency exchange Binance Kazakhstan.
According to Kursiv.media, this means the company can now operate a platform for trading and exchanging cryptocurrencies, act as a broker-dealer, and provide digital asset custody services within the country.
It is noted that Binance has received a regulatory licence in Central Asia for the first time.
"The company stated that this process was quite challenging. It included a thorough review, internal and external audits, as well as ISO certification (ensuring services meet certain international standards). The regulator assessed the cryptocurrency exchange in accordance with the AIFC's digital asset business rules, business conduct requirements, as well as anti-money laundering laws and other relevant regulations," the statement read.
It has become known that Binance already holds similar licences in France, Italy, Lithuania, Spain, Poland, Sweden, India, Australia, Japan and other countries.
It is reported that in the spring of 2022, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who was recently released early from prison, where he was held on charges of money laundering and other illegal operations. The head of state and Zhao discussed the creation of a regional cryptocurrency hub in Kazakhstan.
At the same time, late last year, the former head of Binance Kazakhstan, now Minister of Digitalisation, Zhasslan Madiyev, spoke about plans to make Astana one of the world's leading cryptocurrency industry centres.
For context, in March, the Astana Criminal Court convicted two residents of the capital for illegal business activities without a licence and registration at the AIFC. As the court explained, the fraudsters, acting in collusion, illegally exchanged USDT on the Binance platform for two years, earning more than 7 billion tenge.