While some Kazakhstani citizens use an electronic digital signature (EDS) for government services and banking operations, others are openly offering to sell or buy one for money. Advertisements seeking people who have been abroad clearly show that a shadow market for personal digital signatures is forming around the new rules for registering foreign smartphones. And more importantly, part of the audience is reacting not with alarm, but with interest.
WHAT THE SELLER IS OFFERING
On the social network Threads, advertisements for the purchase of EDS have appeared. In the published text, the enterprising user specifies a condition: people who have travelled abroad “except Uzbekistan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan” since September 2025 are suitable. It is separately stipulated that China is also suitable, “except Khorgos”. The author of the advertisement writes that they are “carrying out phone verification”, and for the EDS itself, they offer 25,000 tenge. From the wording, it is clear that the interest is specifically in citizens who have actually crossed the border and can prove this with documents.
WHY EDS IS NEEDED TO BRING IN A PHONE
Since March 2025 in Kazakhstan, additional requirements for the identification of mobile devices brought in from abroad have been in effect. For some import methods, it is necessary to confirm the origin of the phone and the circumstances of its entry into the country.
In discussions on the Kazakhstani Reddit, users describe this procedure in practice: to register a smartphone bought abroad, one of them needed a border crossing certificate, IIN, EDS, and a Kazakhstani SIM card. Other participants confirm that when importing devices personally, the system requests proof of travel. It seems that it is precisely this chain of documents that the author of the advertisement is trying to avoid by buying access to other people’s signatures.
WHAT THE LAW SAYS ABOUT TRANSFERRING EDS
Since January 2025, new amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences concerning electronic documents and EDS have been in effect in Kazakhstan. However, the penalty for transferring one’s private key to third parties is not a new introduction: even before the changes, individuals faced a fine of 10 MCI (over 43,000 tenge) for this violation.
From 13 March 2025, the article was supplemented with a new clause – on liability for the use of another person’s EDS key: for individuals, the fine is now 50 MCI, which is around 216,000 tenge. Thus, the law now punishes both parties of a potential transaction – both the one who transfers the signature and the one who uses it.
The consequences of transferring an EDS key to third parties can be very serious. In the name of the signature owner, someone could take out a loan, conclude a property or car deal, or register strangers in their apartment. The common thread in all these scenarios is one: since an EDS is legally equivalent to a handwritten signature, liability for documents signed with another person’s key initially falls on the signature owner, not on the person who used it, and proving non-involvement afterwards is extremely difficult.
HOW THREADS USERS ARE REACTING
Reactions to the advertisement on Threads were divided. Some commenters warn the author and potential sellers about the danger of transferring the signature, while another part directly asks about the terms of the deal. 
The split of opinions in the comments speaks not so much about the legal illiteracy of users, but about the logic of the market itself. Government requirements for verifying imported smartphones are creating demand for quick and informal ways to resolve the issue. For many, bypassing the bureaucratic procedure is still easier and more profitable than going through it legally, and the tightening of liability for transferring and using someone else’s EDS is not yet seen as a real threat.
