Kazakhstan Court Orders Service Restrictions on 6 Exchanges Including Coinbase, BingX
Summary
- Kazakhstan’s financial authorities said they secured a court service restriction order against six overseas exchanges that provided unlicensed virtual-asset services.
- The measures included BingX, Bitcoin.com, Huobi Global (HTX), BitMart, Coinbase and WEEX, and also covered Google and Apple as targets of regional access restrictions.
- AFSA said users of unlicensed platforms lacked safeguards required of licensed firms, including asset protection, information disclosure, complaint handling and dispute resolution, and said it would keep the injunctions in place against the remaining six platforms.
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Kazakhstan’s financial authorities said they had secured a court order restricting the services of six overseas exchanges accused of offering virtual-asset services without a license.
Cointelegraph reported on October 20 that the Astana Financial Services Authority, or AFSA, which operates under the Astana International Financial Centre, sued the operators of the platforms over unlicensed virtual-asset services. A court then issued an injunction, AFSA said.
The initial order, issued on September 15, covered seven platforms: BingX, Bitcoin.com, Huobi Global, also known as HTX, BitMart, Coinbase, LBank and WEEX. LBank was removed from the order three days later after it independently blocked access from Kazakhstan. Google and Apple were also included in the regional access restrictions in their roles as app store operators.
AFSA said users of unlicensed platforms lacked safeguards required of licensed firms, including asset protection, information disclosure, complaint handling and dispute resolution.
“The court’s decision reflects the continued efforts of AFSA’s supervision and enforcement team to regulate platforms that have advertised and provided virtual-asset services in Kazakhstan without the required authorization,” AFSA Chief Executive Officer Evgeniya Bogdanova said.
AFSA said it had notified more than 20 platforms of AIFC rules during 2025. Of those, nine voluntarily restricted app access and seven expressed interest in obtaining licenses. The regulator withdrew its lawsuits against the nine platforms that took voluntary action and will maintain the injunctions against the remaining six.
