New York Thursday, August 15, 2024- Kazakhstan’s anti-money laundering agency has blocked illegal cryptocurrency transactions worth $75.4 million, officials announced on August 8, 2024.
The Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Financial Monitoring (AFM) revealed in a Telegram post that it had identified 18 crimes related to illegal cryptocurrency transactions and mining activities.
According to the AFM, the crackdown led to six court sentences this year for offenses involving the illegal purchase and sale of crypto assets. Authorities have seized assets totaling $2.51 million, with four offenders sentenced to up to three and a half years in prison.
In one notable case, a Russian citizen was sentenced in April to two years in jail for operating an illegal crypto exchange in Kazakhstan between 2020 and 2022. The agency confiscated over $121,600 in criminally obtained property and froze an additional $12.1 million in proceeds from the exchange.
The AFM emphasized that all crypto exchanges in Kazakhstan must obtain official operating permits and operate within the Astana International Financial Center. The country also maintains strict regulations on crypto mining, requiring miners to complete licensing protocols before connecting to the grid.
On August 2, AFM reported recovering over half a million dollars from a crypto-themed pyramid scheme named Eolus, which had defrauded some 2,500 citizens across Kazakhstan.
The agency has also identified three cases of state fund theft involving the misuse of funds allocated for IT projects, underscoring the growing threat of cybercrime in the country.
