The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) court in Kazakhstan has issued injunctions prohibiting six digital-asset platforms from offering services without licenses within its jurisdiction. The order, dated September 15 and amended three days later, targets BingX, Bitcoin.com, Huobi Global (HTX), BitMart, Coinbase, and WEEX. LBank was removed from the list after its operator blocked access to users in Kazakhstan.
The Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) stated that Google and Apple are also subject to geographic restrictions on app store access for these remaining platforms. AFSA CEO Evgeniya Bogdanova described the decision as a result of consistent enforcement efforts against unauthorized advertising and service provision. The regulator noted that users of unlicensed platforms lack essential safeguards such as asset protection, disclosure requirements, complaints handling, and dispute resolution mechanisms.
Prior to this ruling, AFSA warned more than 20 platforms about AIFC compliance rules in 2025. Nine operators voluntarily restricted their app access in the Central Asian country, leading to the withdrawal of claims against them, while seven others indicated intentions to seek licenses. The injunctions will be enforced against the six non-compliant entities. This action follows previous measures by Kazakhstan’s National Bank, which oversees digital-asset providers outside the AIFC, and earlier blocking actions by the Financial Monitoring Agency in 2023.
This judicial intervention marks a significant escalation in Kazakhstan's regulatory posture toward global crypto exchanges operating within the AIFC framework. By extending enforcement mechanisms to major app store operators like Google and Apple, the AFSA demonstrates a strategy that bypasses direct platform cooperation when necessary, leveraging infrastructure control to enforce local licensing mandates. The removal of LBank from the injunction list highlights the effectiveness of immediate compliance responses, suggesting that regulators are willing to adjust legal actions based on real-time operational changes by firms.
The distinction between the AIFC's jurisdiction and the broader oversight by Kazakhstan’s National Bank creates a complex dual-regulatory environment for international exchanges. While the AIFC focuses on licensed financial services within its specific zone, the wider market remains under different supervisory bodies. This fragmentation requires platforms to navigate varying compliance standards depending on their target user base and service location. The precedent set here may encourage other jurisdictions with special economic zones to adopt similar app-store-level restrictions to curb unauthorized financial activities.
