By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 25th, 2024
The latest development comes after the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange secured preliminary approval from the Astana Financial Services Authority back in August.
Crypto exchange Binance has received a license to conduct business in Kazakhstan, the company said in a press release on October 6.
According to the press release, the newly acquired license from the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) will now give Binance the status of a regulated platform that can operate as a digital asset and custody services provider at the Astana International Financial Center.
“We are proud to announce that Binance has taken another step in its quest to be a compliance-focused exchange,” Gleb Kostarev, Binance’s Asia director, stated in the press release.
The latest development comes after the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange secured preliminary approval from the Astana Financial Services Authority back in August. The Astana International Financial Center is a regional platform dedicated to the development of services related to digital assets.
Earlier this year, the crypto exchange increased the size of its compliance team and received approvals and provisional approvals from other nations and jurisdictions, including France, Dubai, and Spain, after receiving criticism from regulators in the UK and Japan last year, as well as Uzbekistan and Israel this year.
Binance and Kazakhstan also announced earlier yesterday that they are joining forces in a partnership that will seek to ensure the safe development of the country’s crypto market.
The Memorandum of Understanding revealed that Binance and Kazakhstan’s Financial Monitoring Agency intend to inform each other about cases involving the use of digital assets for illegal activities.
Binance also promised to share data that can be used to identify and block cryptocurrency holdings acquired through illegal means, as well as those used in the financing of terrorism and the laundering of illicit proceeds.
Tigran Gambaryan, the company’s global head of intelligence and investigations, stated that Binance has the most comprehensive compliance program in the market. He added that this program includes tools to identify suspicious activity and accounts, as well as anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance principles.
In May, Binance and the Ministry of Digital Development and Innovation of Kazakhstan signed another Memorandum of Understanding, as part of which Binance will advise the government of Nur-Sultan on cryptocurrency regulations.