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The world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has chosen Kazakhstan to establish a regional hub for international settlements.
The initiative stems from a memorandum recently signed with the country’s central bank, part of a series of new agreements with Astana.
Biggest crypto exchange to process payments from Kazakhstan
Binance, the largest coin trading platform by daily volume, intends to create a settlement center in Kazakhstan, which will process payments for customers in the post-Soviet space.
The plan was made public by the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK), with which the cryptocurrency exchange signed a memorandum of understanding to that effect a few days ago.
On Monday, the monetary authority revealed that the hub will be processing cross-border payments and money transfers, including settlements for transactions with digital assets.
Its services will be available to users based in Central Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and Eastern Europe, according to a press release, relayed by local and regional media.
Quoted by the Russian-language edition of Forbes magazine and the business news portal RBC, the financial regulator explained:
“The project involves the establishment a corresponding Binance Group organization in Kazakhstan, along with the necessary infrastructure, and obtaining a license from the National Bank to operate as a Category 1 payment institution.”
The authorization will allow the transfer of some of the group’s regional operations to Kazakhstan and ensure that many related services will be provided through its jurisdiction, the regulator highlighted.
The announcement, which provides these details, follows a recent signing ceremony attended by the bank’s Chairman Timur Suleimenov and Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao (CZ).
Last week, Binance unveiled three agreements with Kazakhstani institutions. Besides the one with the NBK, the company signed similar memorandums with the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development and the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC).
At the time, the exchange said it would work with the central bank to explore various opportunities to position Kazakhstan as a regional payments and fintech hub. It also noted:
“This includes the potential localization of certain Binance regional operations, functions, and infrastructure in Kazakhstan, as well as the development of cross-border financial services.”
Meanwhile, Binance and the Kazakh digital ministry will facilitate developments in the field of digital assets, computing infrastructure and innovative payment solutions. Their agreement also concerns the potential issuance of a new stablecoin.
The memorandum with the AIFC will focus efforts on cooperation within the fintech hub’s Investment Tax Residency Program, which will be expanded to cover digital assets as well.
From major mining destination to regional crypto hub
Kazakhstan first caught the attention of the global crypto community when it became a major destination for cryptocurrency mining in the aftermath of a Chinese ban on the activity.
Issues with energy deficits caused by the sudden influx of miners were later resolved through dedicated rules and adequate pricing for the electricity consumed by enterprises in the sector.
The government in Astana also took a series of steps to regulate the growing crypto industry within the framework of a wider strategy to turn the country into a Eurasian crypto hub.
That includes transactions related to investment in digital assets and their trading, among which the exchange of coins minted inside Kazakhstan on authorized domestic platforms.
The latter was initially possible exclusively through entities registered at the AIFC, but the NBK recently issued its first crypto exchange license under the updated law “On Digital Assets.”
The revamped legislation, originally adopted three years ago, now permits the provision of such services outside the narrow legal regime of the international financial center in the capital.
Binance’s CZ visited Kazakhstan in early September 2025, when he discussed with officials the development of the former Soviet republic’s digital economy.
He was acquainted with two new projects – to create a “CryptoCity” in Alatau and build a Data Center Valley, the latter being part of Kazakhstan’s push to become a regional AI hub, too.
In late September 2023, Binance announced it was pulling out of the Russian market, sanctioned over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and sold its business there.
Russian firms and residents have been using platforms based in friendly neighboring nations such as Belarus and Kyrgyzstan to circumvent Western restrictions and access the global crypto space.
This month, Zhao also visited Kyrgyzstan, where he took part in discussions on crypto regulation, measures against fraud and money laundering, as well as tokenization and stablecoins.
The participants in the meeting also talked about issuing a digital Kyrgyzstani som and the development of the fiat-pegged KGST coin, for which the country is cooperating with Binance.
Earlier this summer, Binance failed to secure licenses in Greece and France under the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets MiCA framework, as previously reported by Cryptopolitan.
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