Kazakhstan is cracking down on illegal crypto venues, with Coinbase and five other platforms as the latest targets.
In a statement, the country’s regulator, the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA), announced that it has issued court injunctions against Coinbase, BitMart, Huobi Global (HTX), Bitcoin.com, WEEX and BingX.
This was a follow-up after the six operators failed to respond to early 2026 warnings to comply with the AIFC (Astana International Finance Center) regulatory framework.
Decrying the impact on illegal platforms, the regulator said,
It also creates unfair competition for licensed market participants, who incur costs associated with complying with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) requirements, conducting customer due diligence and meeting regulatory supervision requirements.
The injunction bars the platforms from selling or marketing crypto services and extends to Google and Apple, which distribute the applications.
Speaking on the same, Evgeniya Bogdanova, CEO of AFSA, said the crackdown started in 2025 and covered over 20 platforms.
Initial injunctions against the illegal firms kicked off in early 2026 and pushed some to seek a license with the regulator. Other unregulated platforms cooperated and agreed to block users from the country.
But for the remaining six non-compliant platforms, access restriction will be based on the latest injunction. Bogdanova added,
AFSA continues to monitor illegal activities in this sector and, since May 2026, has been carrying out this work in close cooperation with the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the national regulator responsible for digital asset activities.
Kazakhstan crypto adoption
That said, the country has granted approval to Binance and Bybit, amongst other platforms. Other global players that do not have an operating license, such as Bitget, have opted to block local users to avoid regulatory pressure and fines.
The country has seen a massive push for crypto market clarity under the current President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev administration.
In July, Kazakhstan formalized a framework to bring digital assets, including stablecoins and tokenized assets, into regulated financial markets.
In 2025, the country ranked 16th in crypto adoption across the region. As of 2026, Chainalysis placed it among the top nine countries seeing massive cross-border stablecoin volume compared to domestic payments.
It saw $655.9M in cross-border stablecoin flows vs. $168M in local transfers, translating to 3.9x more international volumes.
In fact, the need to balance capital flight and international trade is forcing countries such as Russia to tighten their crypto rules.
That said, BitMart will be shut down in early 2027. But it remains to be seen whether the remaining platforms will prohibit local users or apply for a license.
Final Summary
- Kazakhstan wants Coinbase and other platforms blocked from the country for non-compliance
- Kazakhstan cross-border stablecoin volumes have exploded after the July decree
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