Stephanie Douse 
As a result of the pilot project crypto exchanges in Kazakhstan will get the opportunity to open bank accounts
Kazakhstan to launch pilot project
In addition to its rapid progress toward legalizing crypto mining, Kazakhstan will establish a pilot project for crypto exchanges in the special economic zone of the Astana International Finance Centre (AFSA).
On Thursday, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations, and Aerospace Industry unveiled a trial initiative involving crypto exchanges and a few local banks.
The representatives from the AFSA and other groups formulated the guidelines for that collaboration. Other working groups that were present included the Ministry of Digital Development, the National Bank, the Financial Monitoring Agency, and financial and crypto market stakeholders.
The exchanges that have been granted a license by the newly constituted AFSA will be part of the pilot project, which will run until the end of 2022. It will serve as a template for Kazakhstan’s future development as a regional crypto powerhouse. Detailed guidelines will be available soon on the AIFC website.
The purpose of the project
Nurhat Kushimov, the chairman of AFSA, stated that his committee’s objective is to establish an atmosphere in which trustworthy and sustainable businesses can operate:
“The Astana Financial Service Authority is the only entity responsible for regulating the fintech companies’ activities in Kazakhstan. Before handing out the license to a fintech company, we conduct a deep and thorough background check, and after that maintain its constant supervision.”
Kazakhstan’s minister of digital development, Bagdat Musin, stated that the country wants to profit from cryptocurrency exchanges:
“It is necessary to create a complete ecosystem, so the digital assets, that have been mined using Kazakhstan’s electric energy, would be traded at the local exchanges to the maximum extent and the profit would stay in the country”.
Binance Inked MOU With Kazakhstan
The modifications to the national tax code to impose a crypto mining tax connected to the electricity costs spent by mining firms were passed in the first reading by the Kazakh parliament on May 25.
On the same day, Binance inked a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Digital Development.
Binance will help Kazakhstan build legislative rules and regulatory procedures for crypto assets as part of the framework.