Kazakhstan, one of the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining hubs, announced plans to introduce new crypto regulations aimed at reducing tax fraud and illegal business operations.
A new law signed by Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on February 6 reset the nation’s position against illegal mining operations and the issuance of crypto assets. Of the two different legislationsthe first requires issuers of collateralized digital assets to have government permission.
In addition, said issuers will be subject to monitoring in accordance with current regulations. law of the land — “On the fight against the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism”. The law will enter into force on April 1, 2023.
The second legislation targets unsecured digital assets, generally obtained through crypto mining operations. To reduce the possibility of tax evasion, cryptocurrency miners in Kazakhstan will be required to sell at least 75% of their income through registered cryptocurrency exchanges. This rule, which aims to collect “revenue information from digital miners and digital mining pools for tax purposes,” will take effect from January 1, 2024 to January 1, 2025.
All crypto mining licenses in Kazakhstan are issued for a limited period of three years, which differs depending on whether or not the miner owns the mining facility.
Related: Kazakhstan Among the Top 3 Bitcoin Mining Destinations After the US and China
Along with the introduction of the above laws, Kazakhstan launched the pilot project of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) – the “digital tenge”.
Together with the National Bank of Kazakhstan, #Binance presented a bilateral report on the “State of the DeFi and Digital Assets Industry in Central Asia”.
The joint report provides an overview of crypto adoption, general DeFi trends, and the local digital asset industry.
—Binance (@binance) February 3, 2023
A jointly published report by the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) and crypto exchange Binance NBK deputy governor Berik Sholpankupov wrote of the bank’s vision of a “collaboration between traditional finance and DeFi,” adding:
“In Kazakhstan, we also started a hands-on R&D project to explore how our CBDC, Digital Tenge, can bridge the world of cryptocurrencies with traditional fiat payments infrastructure.”
Earlier, in October 2022, the Astana Financial Services Authority (ASFA) of Kazakhstan granted Binance a permanent license to run a digital asset platform and provide custody services.
