Kazakhstan Plans Regulated Crypto Banks

Kazakhstan’s government is drafting legislation that could turn the country’s fledgling digital-asset hub into a full-scale banking laboratory for crypto. Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov told lawmakers on Apr. 25 that the next round of amendments to the Digital Assets Law will open the door for “crypto banks”— regulated institutions authorised to custody, exchange and settle digital assets alongside traditional money.

The concept is not entirely new inside Kazakhstan’s borders. Within the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), a handful of exchanges, brokers and custodians already pilot limited services under a sandbox regime backed by the National Bank and the Ministry of Digital Development. But Bektenov wants to upgrade those piecemeal licences into a coherent banking charter that would let clients move seamlessly between tenge, dollars and tokens— all under the same compliance roof.

“Crypto banks will deepen transparency, strengthen AML controls and unlock fresh capital for Kazakh innovators,” Bektenov wrote in his response to Parliament, noting that only 5 percent of local crypto users currently trade on regulated platforms. The rest operate in what President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev earlier described as a “grey zone” of peer-to-peer desks and offshore exchanges.

Beyond mining and into finance

Kazakhstan grabbed headlines in 2021 when a post-China hash-rate boom turned it into the world’s second-largest Bitcoin mining hub. Power shortages and subsidy cuts later trimmed that position, but the government has doubled down on becoming Central Asia’s fintech crossroads. The AIFC courts global firms with English common law statutes, zero corporate tax, and a regulatory sandbox modelled on Dubai’s DIFC.

Crypto banks would be the centrepiece of this next phase. According to draft proposals seen by local media, licences would permit:

• Spot and OTC trading for Bitcoin, Ether and approved altcoins
• Qualified custody with segregation of client assets and mandatory insurance
• Stablecoin issuance backed by sovereign bonds or bank deposits
• On-chain analytics desks tasked with continuous monitoring for illicit flows

Each licence holder must integrate with the national KYC database and report suspicious activity in real time, aligning with FATF standards. Officials believe the model could attract regional remittance corridors now running through informal channels, while giving miners and DeFi start-ups a compliant home for treasury management.

A talent magnet

Bektenov argues that crypto banking will “create demand for specialists in compliance, blockchain analytics and software security,” plugging directly into the government’s Digital Kazakhstan 2027 programme. Local universities have already begun blockchain electives; the AIFC intends to sponsor additional scholarships once the bill passes— potentially this autumn.

Sceptics worry the initiative could overload a banking sector still digesting post-Soviet restructurings. Yet supporters point to the AIFC’s ring-fenced legal system and its success in hosting 2,000+ fintech start-ups since 2018. If Parliament approves the amendments, Kazakhstan would join a tiny club—alongside Switzerland and Singapore—where fully regulated crypto banks operate under clear statute.

Kazakhstan’s experiment could offer a valuable case study: can a resource-rich state pivot from Bitcoin mining to full-spectrum digital finance without sacrificing oversight? The draft law’s progress will be watched closely by both regional neighbours and global compliance hawks.

Kazakhstan is betting that marrying hard-nosed AML rules with open-door innovation will keep capital onshore and beckon foreign players seeking regulatory clarity in a fragmenting world. If the wager pays off, “Kazakhstan crypto banks” may soon be synonymous with Central Asia’s emerging digital economy.