The Financial Monitoring Agency (AFM) of Kazakhstan has reported the closure of an illegal cryptocurrency exchange, ABS Change, by law enforcement agencies.
The exchange was founded by three Kazakh citizens who operated outside the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), which is the only territory where crypto companies are allowed to operate in the country.
The exchange has been operating since 2021, and the police have seized $342,000 and 7 million tenge ($16,000) as well as discovering crypto assets worth almost $23,000 on two crypto wallets.
The AFM has stated that the total turnover of the exchange office’s crypto wallets on the Binance platform is estimated to be almost $34 million. The authorities are currently continuing their investigation into the matter.
In February, the Kazakhstan government approved a list of legal mining pools, and miners are now required to sell 75% of their mined assets to cryptocurrency exchanges that are registered with the AIFC.
This rule will be enforced from January 1, 2024, until at least January 1, 2025. Kazakhstan is a world leader in cryptocurrency mining, and the government has introduced new regulations to the industry. Earlier this year, Bits.media released a comprehensive review of the country’s crypto industry.