Bank Buys Bitcoin in Kazakhstan, Country to Develop Crypto Exchange – Finance Bitcoin News

A financial institution and a coin trading platform in Kazakhstan have joined forces to conduct what they say is the country’s first such joint transaction for the acquisition of cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s leadership has declared its willingness to further develop crypto exchange in the country’s financial hub.

First crypto-asset banking operation opens door to legal coin purchases in Kazakhstan

Almaty-headquartered Eurasian Bank and Kazakhstan-based crypto exchange Intebix have reported that they completed what they touted as the first crypto-related transaction in the country involving a digital asset trading platform, a banking institution and a customer. The deal, in which cryptocurrency was acquired with local fiat, was announced at the Digital Bridge 2022 forum.

“This precedent enables Kazakhs to legally buy cryptocurrencies for tenge, while Eurasian Bank’s proprietary solution made it possible to set one of the lowest fees in the world for such a transaction,” the bank said in a press release. Intebix Exchange Director Talgat Dosanov went even further, claiming:

This is the first cryptocurrency-exchange-bank-client transaction in the entire Eurasian continent.

In May this year, regulators approved pilot regulations allowing crypto transactions in Kazakhstan, under certain conditions. To participate in the project, crypto exchanges are required to obtain a license while banks must follow the adopted rules. The government maintains that the framework meets international standards in terms of transaction monitoring and security.

The process of buying crypto with Kazakh tenge was demonstrated for the country’s head of state. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed his administration’s willingness to support the further development of the project to facilitate the exchange of cryptoassets in the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), the Central Asian nation’s financial hub, if the trial is successful.

Kazakhstan intends to become a leading player in new digital technologies, the cryptocurrency ecosystem and regulated digital mining, Tokayev stressed. “If this financial instrument shows further demand and security, it will certainly receive full legal recognition,” he said.

The pilot project at the AIFC was launched this summer when registered crypto exchanges were allowed to open accounts with domestic banks. Two trading platforms, Intebix (operating under the Biteeu brand in the EU and Australia) and Ataix Eurasia, as well as Halyk Bank, Altyn Bank and Eurasian Bank are participating in the tests. The pilot will run until the end of 2022.

Eurasian Bank also announced a plan to issue a crypto card this year. It will be linked to an Intebix wallet and holders will be able to pay in tenge while using their digital coins. The banking institution is currently working on the details with the National Bank of Kazakhstan. Eurasian Bank ranks seventh among Kazakhstan’s banks in terms of assets and is a leader in the private banking market.

Do you expect a rapid rise of crypto-fiat banking in Kazakhstan? Tell us in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’ quote: “To be a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.