Uzbekistan Introduces Monthly Fees For Cryptocurrency Companies – Regulation Bitcoin News

Crypto firms in Uzbekistan will have to pay taxes to the state under new legislation proposed by regulators. Fees vary depending on the business activity and can reach USD 11,000 per month when exchanging digital assets. Failure to pay will result in suspension of the licence.

Crypto operators in Uzbekistan will be charged fixed fees for their business activities

Authorities in Uzbekistan have adopted a law obliging entities working with cryptocurrencies to make special contributions to the state budget. The legislation, put forward by the country’s most important crypto-regulatory body, has entered into force after registration with the Ministry of Justice, as required.

According to the bill authored by the National Agency of Perspective Projects (NAPP) under the President of Uzbekistan, licensed crypto companies will have to pay the costs every month. Different rates have been set for the different categories of cryptocurrency operators.

Crypto exchanges, for example, will be charged the highest tariff of 120 million Uzbek soums (nearly $11,000), while cryptocurrency shops will pay around $540, Russian crypto news outlet Bits.media said in a report.

The tariff for individual miners will be around $270 per month, and mining pools will have to transfer to the government a little over $2,700, at current exchange rates. At the same time, custodial service providers will enjoy the lowest fee – $135.

“Failure to pay the fee within one month constitutes grounds for suspension of the licence. If the company does not pay the fee for two months within a year, the grant can be cancelled,” according to one of the provisions of the law. NAPP will deduct 20% of each payment and the rest goes to the treasury.

Uzbek authorities have been quite active this year in their efforts to regulate the country’s growing crypto economy. This spring, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree expanding the regulatory framework for the Central Asian nation’s digital currency market. It provided legal definitions for cryptoassets, exchanges and mining, and assigned oversight duties to NAPP.

In June, the Tashkent government presented a set of new registration rules for companies involved in the mining of digital currencies and obliged miners to use renewable energy. Following an increase in the activities of online platforms offering crypto services to Uzbeks without a local license, NAPP took measures to block access to foreign crypto exchange sites in August.

What is your opinion on the new fees that the government of Uzbekistan is imposing on crypto companies? 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.