By
Godfrey Benjamin
September 13th, 2023
The government aims to facilitate the growth of the financial technology in the country by providing favorable jurisdiction for cryptocurrency projects.
The Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) has partnered with Deloitte, Waves Platform, Kesarev Consulting, and legislation firm Juscutum to form a new working group to promote the growth of the fintech sector in Kazakhstan.
“AIFC aims to become a most favorable FinTech jurisdiction with an open ecosystem and the most progressive regulating framework. We thank our partners for the support given to our blockchain regulatory development initiative. In the next phase of the project, our working team will be looking at widening the participation to include other industry stakeholders”, said Nurlan Kussainov, CEO of AIFC.
The members of the group will jointly work on the development of flexible cryptocurrency regulation in Kazakhstan and creating an ecosystem for the application of blockchain and digital currency projects. It aims to promote the dialogue between businesses, citizens, and government and improve the investment climate for the development of innovative technologies.
“We consider this project as a perfect opportunity to create a new jurisdiction, which would be most favorable for crypto projects in the world. We are very pleased with the willingness of AIFC to embrace this new phenomenon; it gives hope for very quick results”, said Head of Juscutum, Artem Afyan.
According to Natalia Sheiko, partner of Kesarev Consulting, Kazakhstan is the second country after Japan that understands the need to develop the cryptocurrency market system at the governmental level. “The development of the digital currency market on the basis of the Astana International Financial Center is the first step towards a creation of a full-fledged ecosystem for the digital economy in Kazakhstan,” she said.
“We are glad that the AIFC is trying to create the most favorable conditions for the development of blockchain technologies,” said Waves founder and CEO, Sasha Ivanov.
“To achieve this goal, concrete steps have already been taken, one of which was the creation of a working group. We are sure that the outcomes of this group, which includes the Waves Platform, will attract new investors to Kazakhstan and will help the country to be a new destination in the field of blockchain.”
Despite huge growth of cryptoeconomics within the past few years, it still lacks regulation. There is currently no framework that meets all requests of cryptoeconomics and Kazakhstan has great chances to become a leader in this sphere. Using the UK’s legal system and an innovation sandbox, Astana has high potential to sidestep other states in developing fintech.
“Creation of an enabling regulatory environment for blockchain projects is currently crucial and is included to the agenda of the most innovative economies around the world. We are glad to be a part of the created consortium and to participate in a regulatory development process based on the best world practices and a deep understanding of the industry”, said Artem Tolkachev, Director of Legal Services for Technology Projects at Deloitte CIS.
