Kazakhstan dismantled 36 illegal cryptocurrency exchanges in 2024 as part of its ongoing efforts to combat money laundering, marking a 96.3% decline from 2023.
On January 6, the Financial Monitoring Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan revealed the closure of these unauthorized crypto platforms, which were found to be facilitating illicit fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat transfers.
In its statement, the agency highlighted that such illegal exchanges evade proper customer identification and fail to flag suspicious transactions, making them attractive to cybercriminals and drug traffickers.
The total turnover of the 36 exchanges was approximately 60 billion Kazakhstani tenge (about $112.8 million), and authorities reported that assets worth around 2.5 billion tenge (roughly $4.8 million) had been seized during the operation.
In 2023, Kazakhstan’s Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) shut down 980 unlicensed crypto exchanges and initiated nine investigations into illicit exchange activities and money laundering operations.
Despite the aggressive crackdown, several globally licensed exchanges—such as Binance, Bybit, CaspianEx, Biteeu, ATAIX, Upbit, and Xignal&MT—remain operational and compliant within Kazakhstan’s legal framework.
Kazakh authorities are committed to continuing their collaboration with international organizations to curb the criminal use of cryptocurrencies, enhance transaction monitoring capabilities, and introduce legislation aimed at penalizing money laundering activities.
The country is also progressing with the development of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital tenge. Work on the project began in February 2023, with an initial launch target set for 2025.
Kazakhstan has reportedly partnered with Visa, Mastercard, and local banks to integrate the digital tenge into payment cards. As Binur Zhalenov, chairman of Kazakhstan’s National Payment Corporation, explained, ‘This will allow users to pay with digital tenge globally, using services like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and other devices.
