Several CryptoCurrency Exchange Websites Have Been Shut Down In Kazakhstan

Kazakhstani financial authorities have targeted at least five online sites that trade cryptocurrency illegally. During searches in the country's north, documents, computer equipment, and bitcoin wallets were confiscated.

Kazakhstan's Financial Supervision Agency Targets Unlicensed Crypto Exchange Services

The Republic of Kazakhstan's Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) has disbanded a gang engaging in the unlawful trade of cryptocurrency. Its members conducted trading using a variety of websites, including kzobmen.com, 1wm.kz, kazobmen.ru, wm007.kz, and kz-exchange.com.

Searches were conducted at six places as part of the investigation in the Kostanay area, and materials implicating the operators of the platforms were recovered, according to a news statement from the watchdog. Its personnel seized a number of computers, mobile phones, flash memory sticks, and banking and accounting paperwork.

The authorities said that the organizers of the online exchangers obtained “particularly large-scale” money from their economic ventures, but did not specify the amount. It also did not divulge the number of persons in the gathering or their identities.

Investigators discovered two crypto wallets with a total amount of $6,000 in digital assets at Binance, the world's biggest crypto exchange. The FMA said that access to these wallets has been temporarily blocked. More than $200,000 in coins were discovered in wallets with other exchanges.

According to the notice, a pre-trial inquiry is ongoing. The Financial Monitoring Agency further emphasized that these sorts of operations are only permitted under the Astana International Financial Center's specific legislative environment (AIFC).

Kazakhstan's government has been working to regulate the country's cryptocurrency business, which has grown since the Central Asian country became a bitcoin mining hub after China's ban on the industry in 2021.

To lawfully operate an exchange platform, cryptocurrency firms must receive a regulatory license and register with Kazakhstan's financial center. Binance was approved as a supplier of cryptocurrency exchange and custody services in October 2022. Earlier that month, it agreed to exchange information regarding crypto-related crime with Nur-Sultan officials.

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