Digital Assets and Mining in Kazakhstan 2026: National Bank and AIFC Licences, Crypto Exchange and Taxation

Kazakhstan's digital asset regime was rewritten with effect from 1 May 2026. Law No. 259-VIII of 16 January 2026 inserted a dedicated chapter on unsecured digital assets into the Law "On Digital Assets in the Republic of Kazakhstan" and opened crypto circulation beyond the AIFC — through unsecured digital asset exchange operators licensed by the National Bank and digital asset trading platform operators entered on the National Bank's register. Digital mining remains a licensed activity, with a licence granted for three years.

⚠ Two changes that render earlier guidance obsolete. First, Article 11 on digital asset exchanges was removed from the Law with effect from 1 May 2026, ending the AIFC platforms' monopoly on crypto circulation. Second, the requirement to sell mined assets through AIFC exchanges was repealed by Law No. 231-VIII of 17 November 2025 with effect from 18 January 2026. Material describing a mandatory "75% through the AIFC" describes a rule that no longer exists.

The legal framework and the dates that matter

The base instrument is Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 193-VII of 6 February 2023 "On Digital Assets in the Republic of Kazakhstan", in force from 1 April 2023. It has been amended repeatedly, and three amending laws define the current architecture.

Instrument	Adopted / in force	What it changed
Law No. 193-VII	Adopted 6 February 2023, in force from 1 April 2023	Base regulation of digital assets and digital mining
Law No. 115-VIII	Adopted 5 July 2024, in force six months after first official publication	Changes to the definitions in Article 1
Law No. 231-VIII	Adopted 17 November 2025, in force sixty calendar days after publication, that is from 18 January 2026	Repealed paragraphs 4 and 6 of Article 8 — the requirement to sell mined assets through AIFC exchanges
Law No. 256-VIII	Adopted 9 January 2026, in force six months after publication, that is from 12 July 2026	Changes to Articles 1, 3 and 10
Law No. 259-VIII	Adopted 16 January 2026, in force from 1 May 2026	New wording of Articles 4, 5, 6 and 12; Article 11 removed; Article 11-1 and Chapter 3-1 on unsecured digital assets introduced

The operative version of Law No. 193-VII is the one consolidated as at 12 July 2026.

Separating adoption from commencement matters here: Law No. 259-VIII was adopted on 16 January 2026, but most of its provisions only took effect on 1 May 2026, while the national strategic crypto reserve provision commenced sixty calendar days after publication.

Two classes of digital asset

A digital asset is property created in electronic digital form with an assigned digital code, including through cryptography and computing, which is not a unit of account or legal tender, and which is registered and secured by the immutability of information on distributed ledger technology. The definition sits in Article 1(4).

There are two classes of digital asset: the digital financial asset and the unsecured digital asset. An unsecured digital asset is any digital asset that is not a digital financial asset.

Article 5, as recast from 1 May 2026, identifies three types of digital financial asset: those whose underlying asset is money, that is stablecoins; those whose underlying asset is a financial instrument, property right, goods or other property other than money; and financial instruments issued in electronic digital form on a digital financial asset platform operator's platform.

Digital assets that do not meet the Law's requirements for digital financial assets are treated in Kazakhstan as unsecured digital assets. Bitcoin and comparable cryptocurrencies fall into this class.

⚠ Article 12-1(2): in Kazakhstan unsecured digital assets are not recognised as a means of payment, as financial instruments or as financial assets. Legalising circulation does not legalise paying for goods and services in crypto.

Where unsecured digital assets may circulate: six cases

Article 12-1(1) sets out a closed list of cases in which the issuance and organisation of circulation of unsecured digital assets is permitted in Kazakhstan.

•     through unsecured digital asset exchange operators or digital asset trading platform operators holding a National Bank licence or National Bank registration;

•     in the AIFC — through AIFC digital asset exchanges and other AIFC participants holding the relevant licence for digital asset activity;

•     within the National Bank's special regulatory regime;

•     circulation by law enforcement and special state bodies in connection with seizure, attachment and confiscation;

•     circulation of digital assets obtained by digital miners through mining;

•     circulation and organisation of circulation by the National Bank and its subsidiaries within their statutory functions.

The fifth case follows directly from the repeal of the 75% rule: a miner may dispose of mined assets, and doing so is not treated as organising circulation. Requirements for AIFC exchanges and other AIFC participants are set by AIFC law — that is, AFSA acts — rather than by Kazakhstan legislation. The choice between the two perimeters is covered in AIFC or LLP: choosing a jurisdiction inside Kazakhstan.

The exchange operator licence from the National Bank

An unsecured digital asset exchange operator is a digital asset service provider carrying on dealer activity on the digital asset market under a National Bank licence: exchanging, buying and selling unsecured digital assets for clients. The role is new, introduced with effect from 1 May 2026.

Operating as an exchange operator without a National Bank licence is prohibited. The licence is granted for an unlimited term, and an application is considered within twenty business days from submission of the complete document set.

Exchange operations with unsecured digital assets are the operator's exclusive line of business. Holding an interest in the charter capital of any other organisation, resident or non-resident, is prohibited.

Charter capital is formed exclusively in tenge and must be in place before the application is filed. The minimum amount is set by National Bank regulation, as are requirements on legal form, information security and reorganisation.

The filing comprises an application in the prescribed form with details of the executive body's head and members, including diplomas and employment evidence; proof of charter capital payment; the charter; a document setting out how the operator will interact with a bank or the National Postal Operator and with a digital asset exchange; the rules of operation approved by the management body; and evidence of the signatory's authority.

An exchange operator must implement a transaction analysis and control system — a platform or service for monitoring digital asset transactions, tracking them and detecting suspicious activity. Its specifications are set by the National Bank.

Preparing the licence file and the internal rules is work for UPPERSETUP legal services: the document list is short on paper, but the rules of operation and the risk management framework must match National Bank regulation.

Trading platform operators: registration rather than licensing

Organising trading requires registration on the National Bank's register rather than a licence. A digital asset trading platform operator is a service provider entered on that register which provides the organisational and technical conduct of digital asset trading through its own trading system.

Operating as a digital financial asset platform operator or a trading platform operator without National Bank registration is prohibited. An application is considered within twenty business days; a repeat application after the grounds for refusal have been cured is considered within ten business days.

The National Bank may suspend the review period where inaccurate data is found, where documents do not comply with legislation, or where verification is required; the applicant has no more than ten business days to cure the deficiencies.

The registers of digital financial asset platform operators and of digital asset trading platform operators are published on the National Bank's website.

A carve-out applies to securities market infrastructure: the stock exchange and the central depository may act as a digital financial asset platform operator and a trading platform operator without registration, provided they meet the National Bank's qualification requirements.

Requirements on founders and officers

The Law applies entry filters that cover both exchange operators and platform operators.

Founders and participants may be individuals and legal entities, resident or non-resident, other than persons without an impeccable business reputation and persons caught by the FATF and offshore restrictions.

Legal entities and foreign structures without legal personality registered in jurisdictions on the FATF non-compliance list, or in offshore zones on the National Bank's list, may not directly or indirectly hold voting shares or participation interests in an operator, nor derivatives over such shares. The same bar applies to persons on the lists connected with the financing of terrorism and of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The executive officer of an unsecured digital asset exchange operator must be an individual resident in Kazakhstan, holding higher education and an impeccable business reputation.

A ten-year bar applies to anyone who headed a financial organisation within a year before its licence was withdrawn, a bank resolution regime was applied, or compulsory liquidation began. For exchange operators a further five-year bar applies to anyone who previously headed an exchange operator removed from the register.

Bank accounts: how crypto platforms work with banks

Article 12-1(3) resolves what had been the sector's main operational barrier for years.

Unsecured digital asset exchange operators and AIFC digital asset exchanges service client transactions using bank accounts opened with Kazakhstan second-tier banks and/or the National Postal Operator.

A second-tier bank and the National Postal Operator open accounts for digital asset service providers where the provider holds the relevant licence or permit for digital asset activity.

The National Bank sets how exchange operators interact with banks; an AIFC act agreed with the National Bank and the financial market regulator sets how AIFC exchanges do. The practical side of account opening is covered in Opening a Bank Account in Kazakhstan for a Foreign Company.

Identification, the travel rule and the 48-hour suspension

Transfer controls are drafted strictly and identically for both perimeters — Kazakhstan and AIFC.

On transfers of unsecured digital assets, exchange operators, trading platform operators, AIFC exchanges and other licensed AIFC participants collect and retain information on the sender and the recipient, including data identifying those persons and their beneficial owners.

Where that information is absent or incomplete, the transaction is suspended for at least forty-eight hours pending the client's response. If the client does not provide it within that period, the transaction is refused.

An exchange operator services client transactions only after client identification and within the limits set by the National Bank, which also prescribes requirements for opening and servicing client digital asset wallets.

A separate function sits with the financial monitoring authority, which maintains a single register of digital asset wallets used for money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing or other criminal purposes.

Issuing digital financial assets: issuers and platforms

Issuing digital financial assets is a separate perimeter, unconnected with crypto exchange. Issuance takes place on a digital financial asset platform operator's platform, on the basis of the issuer's decision to issue.

Only a legal entity resident in Kazakhstan may be an issuer of digital financial assets.

The platform operator itself registers the issue: it reviews the issuer's documents for compliance with legislation and records the issue on its platform. Where the terms of issue provide for an underlying asset, the issue proceeds only once the operator has satisfied itself that the asset exists.

Custody of the underlying asset sits with a separate underlying asset custodian — a resident legal entity that assumes the obligation to safeguard it.

Supervision is split by asset type: stablecoins backed by money are regulated by the National Bank, while digital financial assets backed by financial instruments or other property, and financial instruments issued digitally, fall to the financial market regulator, which also sets the list of property that may serve as an underlying asset and the rules for its custody.

The central depository maintains the register system for holders of digital financial assets backed by financial instruments and other property, under the Law "On the Securities Market".

A qualified investor category also exists: the regulators set the conditions for recognising a person as a qualified investor and the list of digital financial assets that may be acquired only with qualified investors' funds. Cross-perimeter issuance is permitted too: Kazakhstan legal entities may issue digital financial assets in the AIFC, and AIFC participants may issue on a Kazakhstan operator's platform, under joint regulatory acts.

Supervisory measures and risk disclosure

Supervision of exchange operators runs on a three-tier system of measures rather than on licence withdrawal alone.

The National Bank applies three types of supervisory measure: recommendatory measures; measures to improve financial condition and minimise risk; and enforcement measures.

The choice of measure turns on eight criteria: the level of risk and nature of the breaches, their scale and significance, their persistence and duration, their effect on financial condition, the ability to correct the situation, the existence and effectiveness of earlier measures, the proportionality of the measure to its grounds, and the causes of the breaches.

Measures to improve financial condition take the form of a written prescription or a written agreement and require an action plan. The National Bank reviews the plan within ten business days, extendable once by a further ten business days where it has comments or where the plan runs to more than twenty measures.

The operator must notify the National Bank of the completion of each item in the plan no later than five business days after the date on which it was carried out.

Client protection forms a separate block. Persons carrying out exchange transactions on their own account bear the risk of changes in the value of an unsecured digital asset, and exchange operators, trading platform operators, AIFC exchanges and other licensed AIFC participants must inform clients of the risks of acquiring, holding and transacting in unsecured digital assets.

No commission may be charged to state, law enforcement and special state bodies — including those responsible for accounting for and using property forfeited to the state — for opening and maintaining a digital asset wallet or for transactions in digital assets.

Suspension, licence withdrawal and removal from the register

The grounds for sanction are exhaustive, and most turn on a test of persistence.

A licence may be suspended where the information on which it was granted proves inaccurate; where requirements on officers and participants are breached; where the operator acts beyond its capacity; where qualification requirements are not met; where information is not filed, or is filed inaccurately, on three or more occasions in twelve months; and where supervision is obstructed.

A licence is withdrawn on voluntary cessation or a court decision; on three or more breaches within twenty-four months of legislation within the National Bank's competence; on three or more failures within twelve months to comply with supervisory measures; on carrying on any other business; and where no activity is carried on for twelve months from the grant or activity stops for more than six consecutive months.

The National Bank gives at least three business days' notice of a preliminary decision. Only the operator's first executive may appeal a withdrawal decision.

Platform operators face removal from the register on eleven grounds. Once notified, they must stop providing services and within thirty calendar days re-register under a changed name or resolve to liquidate, and transfer all recorded data to another operator.

The special regulatory regime: a route for novel models

Alongside the licence and the registration, the Law provides a third entry point — the National Bank's special regulatory regime, in effect a sandbox for digital asset activity.

Article 4(1)(8) empowers the National Bank to introduce a special regulatory regime for digital asset activity under Chapter 8-2 of the Law "On the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan".

Issuance and organisation of circulation within that regime is one of the six permitted cases in Article 12-1(1). Its practical value is the ability to test a model that fits neither the exchange operator licence nor platform operator registration, without breaching the general prohibition.

Participants in the special regime are not, however, exempt from identification duties: the obligations to collect sender and recipient data on transfers and to suspend a transaction for at least forty-eight hours apply to them on the same terms as to licensed market participants.

The national strategic crypto reserve

Article 11-1, introduced by Law No. 259-VIII, creates a state fund for digital asset investment.

The national strategic crypto reserve is a fund created to invest in digital assets, in derivatives whose underlying asset is a digital asset, and in shares and interests in companies developing or investing in digital assets.

The reserve is managed by a National Bank joint-stock company providing brokerage, dealer and portfolio management services. An annual report on the results is submitted to the National Fund Management Council, and investment follows National Bank legal acts.

Digital mining: licence, sub-types and terms

Digital mining is carried out by a digital miner through a digital mining pool using a digital mining data centre, and requires a licence.

A digital mining licence is granted for three years in two sub-types: sub-type I for a miner that owns or otherwise lawfully holds a digital mining data centre, and sub-type II for a miner that places its own hardware in a third party's data centre.

Digital mining is open to Kazakhstan individual entrepreneurs and legal entities and does not constitute organising the circulation of digital assets. The unsecured digital assets produced by mining belong to the miner.

The licensing authority for digital mining is the Committee for Digital Assets and Breakthrough Technologies of the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, as designated by the Government Resolution as amended on 25 December 2025 by Resolution No. 1143. The function previously sat with the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry.

The procedure is set by the Rules on Licensing Digital Mining Activity, approved by Order of the Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry No. 169/НҚ of 28 April 2023. The qualification requirements were amended during 2026, including in relation to work with mining pools, so the document list should be checked against the current version of the Order before applying.

A licence may be suspended by the authorised body for one to six months — for inaccurate information, non-compliance with legislation, failure to cure breaches after an unscheduled inspection, failure to report changes, or on the miner's own application. Suspension bars mining for the whole period. Only a court may withdraw the licence.

A digital mining data centre must be located outside a residential zone and use electricity in accordance with the Law "On Electric Power".

Mining pools: accreditation and reporting

Mining runs only through an accredited pool, and accreditation is a separate procedure funded by the pool itself.

•     the pool's hardware and software complex must be physically located in Kazakhstan;

•     test protocols with positive results on cybersecurity compliance are required;

•     other requirements of the pool accreditation rules must be met.

A digital mining pool reports information on the income of digital miners and pools, for tax purposes, to the authorised body for digital mining and to the state revenue authority.

A pool's distribution of mined assets among miners is not treated as organising the circulation of digital assets, so a pool needs no exchange operator licence.

The repeal of the 75% rule and the new licensing requirements

Until 18 January 2026 Kazakhstan miners were required to sell a substantial share of mined assets through AIFC-licensed exchanges.

Paragraphs 4 and 6 of Article 8 were repealed by Law No. 231-VIII of 17 November 2025, in force sixty calendar days after first official publication. The requirement to sell mined assets through AIFC exchanges no longer applies.

Repealing the 75% rule did not leave miners without obligations to the state: a separate mechanism took effect on 1 August 2026, trading access to cheap electricity for a share of the assets mined.

Strategic digital mining: electricity in exchange for digital assets

Strategic digital mining is a standalone state programme rather than a replacement for ordinary licensing. It gives large miners a guaranteed electricity quota at capped tariffs and, in return, requires them to transfer part of the mined digital assets to the national strategic crypto reserve.

The Rules on Strategic Digital Mining were approved by Government Resolution No. 638 of 18 July 2026 and took effect on 1 August 2026. The mechanism implements Government Resolution No. 439 of 28 May 2026.

The entry criteria are materially tougher than the licensing requirements and exclude the small and mid-sized segment entirely.

•     a digital mining data centre held in ownership with capacity of at least 150 MW;

•     technical conditions for grid connection exclusively from transformer substations of 35 kV and above with approved capacity of at least one megawatt;

•     hardware with computing power of at least 150 TH/s per unit;

•     no arrears on taxes, obligatory payments, mandatory pension contributions or social deductions;

•     no encumbrances over the company's property.

A participant may conclude direct electricity purchase agreements with generating companies for up to ten years, at a price not exceeding the cap tariff set by legislation.

Participants must open a separate digital asset wallet for strategic mining operations and file the results of an independent audit of the financial statements for the programme activity annually, by 1 April. Where the audit shows a shortfall in the volume transferred, the difference must be remitted within 30 calendar days.

Participation does not preclude carrying on ordinary digital mining in parallel. The Resolution also approves a separate methodology for determining the volume of digital assets to be transferred to the national strategic crypto reserve.

Participation is voluntary: strategic digital miner status is granted only to companies that meet the requirements and file an application.

On the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development's own explanation, participants transfer to the national strategic crypto reserve not 10% of all digital assets mined, but 10% of the digital assets remaining after accounting for the costs of purchasing and transmitting electricity, in the manner set by the Rules.

⚠ The calculation base carries direct financial consequences and is reported incorrectly in most commentary. The contribution is measured not on gross output but on what remains after electricity costs, so the economics of participation turn on each project's energy cost structure.

A note on confidence: the wording on the calculation base and on the voluntary nature of participation is taken from the sponsoring ministry's official explanation as distributed by the state news agency, rather than from the text of the Resolution itself. The reported participation of Ekibastuz GRES-1 with an allocated quota of 300 MW on the generation side comes from the business press and was not verified against the primary text.

The digital mining fee and taxation

The principal fiscal instrument for miners is not income tax but a dedicated fee tied to electricity consumed.

The digital mining fee is charged on the volume of electricity consumed in digital mining. Rates are differentiated on an inverse scale: the higher the price per kilowatt-hour, the lower the fee, within a range of 1 to 25 tenge per kilowatt-hour.

Under Article 659(2) of the Tax Code the fee is 1 tenge per kilowatt-hour where the electricity is generated from renewable sources at the miner's own power plants in Kazakhstan or from generating units not connected to the unified power system.

Where there is no digital mining licence, no metering devices, or the metering devices are faulty, the fee is charged at 25 tenge per kilowatt-hour — the top of the scale.

In the current Code the fees, including the digital mining fee, sit in Chapter 70 "Fees", covering Articles 617 to 660.

⚠ Beware the article numbering. A new Tax Code — Code No. 214-VIII of 18 July 2025 — has applied since 1 January 2026 and the numbering changed. Publications citing Articles 606-1 to 606-5 reproduce the previous Code. We verified the placement of the fee in Chapter 70 and the reference to Article 659 on rates; the remaining procedural rules are stated in substance, and the article numbers should be checked against the current version of the Code.

The fee period is the quarter. The digital mining fee return is filed on form 880.00 with the tax authority at the taxpayer's location no later than the 15th day of the second month following the reporting quarter, and the fee is paid no later than the 25th day of that month. Those deadlines follow the general logic of the new Code, set out in Kazakhstan's Tax System 2026.

Planning the energy and tax perimeter is best done before the licence application goes in; the corporate side is handled by UPPERSETUP company registration services.

Beyond the fee, a miner pays the licence fee, the amount and payment procedure for which are set by the Tax Code, and ordinary taxes depending on its regime: corporate income tax for legal entities or individual income tax for individual entrepreneurs. Computing the base and running the reporting is covered by UPPERSETUP accounting services.

Reporting by pools and exchanges to the tax authorities

Beyond the miner's own filings, reporting duties sit with the market infrastructure — the pools and the platforms.

A digital mining pool reports information on the income of digital miners and pools to the authorised body for digital mining and to the state revenue authority under Article 10(3) of the Law. The reporting procedure is approved by the authorised body for digital mining in agreement with the body responsible for budget revenues.

According to tax advisory commentary, the administration mechanism introduced from 1 January 2024 required pools to report monthly on cryptocurrency distributed among miners by the 25th day of the month following distribution, and digital asset exchanges and other AIFC participants to report quarterly on transactions by Kazakhstan residents by the 15th day of the second month.

⚠ A note on confidence. Those reporting deadlines relate to the mechanism introduced under the previous Tax Code and are taken from tax advisory commentary. Code No. 214-VIII has applied since 1 January 2026, so the specific deadlines and forms should be checked against the current Code and the authorised body's rules.

The practical effect is that data on assets distributed to miners reaches the tax authority whether or not the miner has reported them. Reconciling the miner's own records against those data before filing is work for UPPERSETUP accounting services.

Liability for breaches

Article 13 of the Law on Digital Assets is referential: a breach of digital asset legislation attracts the liability established by the laws of Kazakhstan. The Law itself sets out no offences and no sanctions.

Exposure runs across three tracks. Tax — assessment of corporate or individual income tax, interest and penalties on undeclared income, plus the top digital mining fee rate where there is no licence or no metering. Administrative — offences relating to carrying on activity without authorisation and to breaches of the circulation rules. Criminal — in the most serious cases, including money laundering and theft of electricity.

⚠ A note on confidence. We did not verify the specific article numbers and sanction amounts under the Code on Administrative Offences and the Criminal Code against their primary texts, and therefore do not state them. The referential character of Article 13 is confirmed against the operative text; the classification of a particular breach and the size of the sanction should be determined from the current versions of those codes.

A distinct practical risk is suspension of the mining licence for one to six months, which bars mining entirely for that period, and withdrawal of the licence by a court. For exchange operators the equivalent levers are suspension and withdrawal by the National Bank. Assessing the exposure of a particular structure is work for UPPERSETUP legal services.

Comparing the three routes to market

Parameter	Exchange operator (National Bank licence)	Trading platform operator (National Bank registration)	AIFC participant (AFSA licence)
Authorisation	Licence for exchange operations	Entry on the register	Licence under AIFC law
Review period	20 business days	20 business days	Set by AIFC acts
Term	Unlimited	Open-ended registration	Set by AIFC acts
Scope of business	Exchange operations only — exclusive activity	Organising trading	As per the AFSA licence
Regulator	National Bank	National Bank	AFSA
Capital	Tenge only, in place before filing	Tenge only, in place before filing	Set by AIFC acts
Bank accounts	Kazakhstan banks and the National Postal Operator	Kazakhstan banks	Kazakhstan banks under an AIFC act

A nine-step plan

•     Step 1. Classify the asset. Stablecoins and tokenised instruments are digital financial assets; bitcoin and comparable coins are unsecured digital assets. Everything downstream follows from that.

•     Step 2. Choose the perimeter: Kazakhstan, under the National Bank, or the AIFC, under AFSA. AIFC participants are governed by AIFC law rather than by Law No. 193-VII.

•     Step 3. For exchange activity obtain the exchange operator licence; for organising trading, apply for registration as a trading platform operator.

•     Step 4. Fund the charter capital in tenge before filing and screen founders and officers against the FATF, offshore and business reputation requirements.

•     Step 5. Implement the transaction analysis and control system and prepare the rules of operation, the risk framework and the AML/CFT documentation.

•     Step 6. Line up the banking perimeter: accounts with a second-tier bank or the National Postal Operator are opened only against a licence or permit.

•     Step 7. For mining, obtain the correct licence sub-type and operate through an accredited pool with hardware located in Kazakhstan.

•     Step 8. Get the metering right. Missing or faulty metering devices push the fee to the top rate of 25 tenge per kilowatt-hour.

•     Step 9. Diarise the quarterly deadlines: form 880.00 by the 15th of the second month after the quarter, payment by the 25th.

Common mistakes and what they cost

•     Building around the 75% AIFC rule. It was repealed on 18 January 2026. Designing a sales model around a repealed requirement means unnecessary cost and the wrong contractual structure.

•     Assuming crypto circulation is confined to the AIFC. Since 1 May 2026 circulation is also permitted onshore, through exchange operators and trading platform operators supervised by the National Bank.

•     Confusing a licence with registration. Exchange operations require a National Bank licence; organising trading requires registration. Different procedures, different refusal grounds, different sanctions.

•     Combining exchange operations with other business. Exchange operations are an exclusive activity, and holding interests in other organisations is expressly prohibited; breach is a ground for licence withdrawal.

•     Treating crypto as a means of payment. Article 12-1(2) expressly denies unsecured digital assets recognition as a means of payment, a financial instrument or a financial asset in Kazakhstan.

•     Economising on electricity metering. Missing or faulty devices, like the absence of a licence, raise the fee to 25 tenge per kilowatt-hour — several times the typical rate.

•     Citing Articles 606-1 to 606-5 of the Tax Code. That is the previous Code's numbering; Code No. 214-VIII has applied since 1 January 2026 with different numbering.

•     Ignoring the 48-hour suspension. Incomplete sender or recipient data suspends the transaction for at least 48 hours and then leads to refusal — an operational risk for client-facing services.

•     Confusing a mining licence with strategic digital miner status. They are different regimes: the licence permits the activity, while status under Resolution No. 638 grants an electricity quota in exchange for transferring part of the mined assets and requires an owned data centre of at least 150 MW.

•     Applying to the former licensing authority. Digital mining licensing now sits with the Committee for Digital Assets and Breakthrough Technologies of the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, not with the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry.

Which route suits whom, and when to take advice

The Kazakhstan perimeter under the National Bank suits projects aimed at the domestic retail market: exchange operations, wallets and integration with second-tier banks. The price of entry is exclusivity of activity, tenge capital and a resident executive officer.

The AIFC perimeter suits international platforms and institutional models: requirements are set by AIFC law rather than Kazakhstan legislation, which allows different flexibility in ownership structure and product range.

Mining remains a separate industry with its own licence, an energy dependency and a dedicated fee. Project economics are driven by the price of electricity and the accuracy of consumption metering rather than by the income tax rate.

Specialist review is warranted in five situations: choosing between the National Bank and AIFC perimeters; foreign ownership, where the FATF and offshore restrictions apply; combining mining with subsequent disposal of the assets; building the banking perimeter; and cross-border transfers, where the identification requirements bite. The corporate side is handled by UPPERSETUP company registration services, and the structuring angle is covered in Kazakhstan + UAE: the Dual Structure.

Frequently asked questions

Is crypto circulation legal in Kazakhstan in 2026?

Yes, in the six cases listed in Article 12-1(1) of Law No. 193-VII. Since 1 May 2026 circulation of unsecured digital assets is permitted through exchange operators and trading platform operators supervised by the National Bank, and through AIFC exchanges and licensed AIFC participants.

Can you pay with cryptocurrency in Kazakhstan?

No. Article 12-1(2) provides that in Kazakhstan unsecured digital assets are not recognised as a means of payment, as financial instruments or as financial assets.

Must a miner sell mined assets through AIFC exchanges?

No. The requirement was repealed: paragraphs 4 and 6 of Article 8 were removed by Law No. 231-VIII of 17 November 2025, in force from 18 January 2026.

What licence is needed to exchange cryptocurrency in Kazakhstan?

A National Bank licence for dealer activity on the digital asset market — exchange operations with unsecured digital assets. Applications are considered within twenty business days and the licence is granted for an unlimited term.

How long is a digital mining licence valid in Kazakhstan?

Three years. Two sub-types exist: one for a miner with its own data centre, and one for a miner placing its own equipment in a third party's data centre.

How much is the digital mining fee in Kazakhstan?

The rate runs from 1 to 25 tenge per kilowatt-hour on an inverse scale to the electricity price: the higher the price, the lower the fee. Renewable electricity from the miner's own plants or from off-grid generating units attracts 1 tenge per kilowatt-hour, while the absence of a licence or of working meters attracts 25 tenge.

When is the digital mining fee return due?

Quarterly on form 880.00, no later than the 15th day of the second month following the reporting quarter. The fee itself is paid no later than the 25th day of that month.

Can a non-resident own a crypto platform in Kazakhstan?

Yes. Founders and participants may be residents or non-residents, other than persons without an impeccable business reputation and persons registered in FATF non-compliant jurisdictions or in offshore zones on the National Bank's list. The executive officer of an exchange operator, however, must be a Kazakhstan resident with higher education.

What is strategic digital mining in Kazakhstan?

It is a state programme under the Rules approved by Government Resolution No. 638 of 18 July 2026, in force from 1 August 2026. A participant receives an electricity quota and the right to conclude direct contracts with generating companies for up to ten years at no more than the cap tariff, and in exchange transfers to the national strategic crypto reserve 10% of the digital assets remaining after the costs of purchasing and transmitting electricity. Participation is voluntary and the key entry threshold is an owned data centre with capacity of at least 150 MW.

Key takeaways

•     The operative version of Law No. 193-VII is consolidated as at 12 July 2026; the core reform came in through Law No. 259-VIII with effect from 1 May 2026.

•     Article 11 on digital asset exchanges was removed; circulation of unsecured digital assets is permitted in the six cases in Article 12-1(1).

•     Exchange operations require a National Bank licence and organising trading requires registration; both applications are reviewed within 20 business days.

•     Exchange operations are the operator's exclusive activity, and holding interests in other organisations is prohibited.

•     Unsecured digital assets are not a means of payment, a financial instrument or a financial asset in Kazakhstan.

•     The requirement to sell mined assets through AIFC exchanges was repealed with effect from 18 January 2026.

•     A mining licence runs for three years in two sub-types, and mining is carried out through an accredited pool.

•     The digital mining fee runs from 1 to 25 tenge per kilowatt-hour: 1 tenge for renewable or off-grid generation, 25 tenge without a licence or metering.

•     Form 880.00 is due by the 15th of the second month after the quarter, with payment by the 25th.

•     From 1 August 2026 the strategic digital mining programme applies under Government Resolution No. 638 of 18 July 2026: an electricity quota and direct contracts of up to ten years in exchange for transferring to the national strategic crypto reserve 10% of the assets remaining after electricity purchase and transmission costs, conditional on an owned data centre of at least 150 MW. Participation is voluntary.

Summary

Digital assets in Kazakhstan are governed by Law No. 193-VII of 6 February 2023 "On Digital Assets in the Republic of Kazakhstan", consolidated as at 12 July 2026. Law No. 259-VIII of 16 January 2026 removed Article 11 on digital asset exchanges with effect from 1 May 2026 and introduced Chapter 3-1 on unsecured digital assets: circulation is permitted through unsecured digital asset exchange operators licensed by the National Bank, through digital asset trading platform operators registered with the National Bank, through AIFC exchanges and licensed AIFC participants, within the National Bank's special regulatory regime, in circulation by law enforcement bodies, in circulation of assets obtained by miners, and in operations of the National Bank and its subsidiaries. Unsecured digital assets are not recognised in Kazakhstan as a means of payment, financial instruments or financial assets. Applications for an exchange operator licence and for platform operator registration are considered within twenty business days; the licence is granted for an unlimited term, exchange operations are an exclusive activity, charter capital is formed in tenge before filing, and the executive officer must be a Kazakhstan resident with higher education. Digital mining is licensed for three years in two sub-types and carried out through an accredited mining pool; the requirement to sell mined assets through AIFC exchanges was repealed by Law No. 231-VIII of 17 November 2025 with effect from 18 January 2026. The digital mining fee is charged on electricity consumed on a scale from 1 to 25 tenge per kilowatt-hour: 1 tenge for renewable electricity from own plants or off-grid units and 25 tenge where there is no licence or no working metering devices. Form 880.00 is filed quarterly by the 15th day of the second month after the reporting quarter and the fee is paid by the 25th day of that month. From 1 August 2026 the Rules on Strategic Digital Mining approved by Government Resolution No. 638 of 18 July 2026 apply: a participant with an owned data centre of at least 150 MW, grid connection from substations of 35 kV and above and hardware of at least 150 TH/s per unit obtains direct electricity contracts for up to ten years at no more than the cap tariff and transfers part of the mined digital assets to the national strategic crypto reserve.

Sources

•     Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 193-VII of 6 February 2023 "On Digital Assets in the Republic of Kazakhstan" — official text in the Adilet system

•     Law No. 193-VII, consolidated version as amended to 12 July 2026 — Articles 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11-1 and 12-1 to 12-6

•     Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 231-VIII of 17 November 2025 — repeal of paragraphs 4 and 6 of Article 8

•     Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 256-VIII of 9 January 2026 — amendments in force from 12 July 2026

•     Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 259-VIII of 16 January 2026 — recast of Articles 4 to 6 and 12, Chapter 3-1 and Article 11-1

•     Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 214-VIII of 18 July 2025 on Taxes and Other Obligatory Payments to the Budget — the digital mining fee, Article 659

•     State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance — on the digital mining fee rates

•     Rules on Licensing Digital Mining Activity — Order of the Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry No. 169/НҚ of 28 April 2023

•     Designation of the licensing authority for digital mining — Government Resolution as amended by Resolution No. 1143 of 25 December 2025

•     Rules on the register of hardware and software complexes for digital mining

•     Rules on Strategic Digital Mining — Government Resolution No. 638 of 18 July 2026 (overview)

•     Explanation by the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development on the strategic digital mining rules (Kazinform)

•     KPMG Kazakhstan — overview of tax administration for digital asset transactions

•     National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan — registers of digital financial asset platform operators and digital asset trading platform operators

Disclaimer

This material is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, investment or consulting advice. Before making decisions, obtain individual professional advice taking account of your specific circumstances, jurisdiction, company status and current regulatory requirements. Information is accurate as of August 2026.