Breaking: Kazakhstan Passes Stringent Crypto And Mining Bills

Kazakhstan lawmakers have passed the “On Digital Assets of the Republic of Kazakhstan” crypto assets bill and other bills regulating crypto mining in Kazakhstan. The changes include regulations requiring miners to purchase only surplus electricity from the public grid, new tax rules governing crypto, and plans to ban cryptocurrency transactions advertising.

Kazakhstan Shifts From Easing To Strict Crypto Regulations

The Mäjilis, the lower house of Parliament of Kazakhstan, has approved several cryptocurrency-related bills including the “On Digital Assets of the Republic of Kazakhstan” and four bills to regulate crypto mining in Kazakhstan.

Miners can purchase electricity from the common power grid only in case of availability of surplus. Moreover, miners can exclusively buy through the Kazakhstan Electricity and Power Market Operator (KOREM) exchange in an auction for electricity in which a higher bidder wins.

Furthermore, mining licensing is proposed to be divided into two categories. Digital miners who own the infrastructure such as data processing centers with appropriate requirements for equipment, location, and security comes under the first category. The second category is digital miners who rent cells in data processing centers and do not claim an energy quota.

Ekaterina Smyshlyaeva, a member of the Majilis’ Committee on Economic Reform and Regional Development, said:

“The bill, in addition to mandatory accreditation, introduces separate requirements for mining pools in terms of the location of their server capacities in Kazakhstan and compliance with information security rules.”

Moreover, new crypto taxes have been introduced including miners’ tax, mining pool commission, value-added tax, and tax on crypto exchanges as business entities.

Ekaterina Smyshlyaeva asserted that cryptocurrencies and crypto exchange activities are prohibited in Kazakhstan. Crypto activities are only part of an experimental legal regime under the jurisdiction of AIFC. Furthermore, a plan to introduce a ban on advertising crypto trading.

Could This Impact the Crypto Adoption Plan of the President?

Kazakhstan has introduced several crypto-progressive initiatives after President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev approved legalizing crypto trading and mining in the country. Kazakhstan presented a draft law on crypto mining in September to efficiently regulate crypto mining.

Binance gained a permanent license from the AIFC Financial Services Authority (AFSA) on October 6. In fact, the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NKB) plans to integrate its central bank digital currency Digital Tenge with the BNB Chain.