Kazakhstan Restricts Access To Coinbase

The recently enacted Digital Assets Law in the country is blocking the U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange.

The Ministry of Culture and Information in Kazakhstan has officially confirmed that they have blocked access to the Coinbase website in the country. Kazakh authorities have been restricting access to Coinbase for local IP addresses since September.

According to a local news source called Kursiv, access to the Coinbase website was blocked by an order from the Ministry of Culture and Information. Ministry officials stated that this request came from the Ministry of Digital Development, which accused Coinbase of violating Kazakhstan's Digital Assets Law.

The Digital Assets Law went into effect in February 2023 and prohibits the production, trading, and operation of crypto exchanges without a national license. Approval for such activities is granted by the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) authority, a special economic zone in Kazakhstan.

So far, this authority has approved platforms like Binance, Bybit, CaspianEx, Biteeu, ATAIX, Upbit, and Xignal&MT.

The initial reports regarding issues with accessing the Coinbase website emerged in September when a local Telegram channel, Finance.kz, stated that the "Great Kazakh Firewall" was restricting access to Coinbase as well as Kraken and other major foreign crypto exchanges.

Kazakhstan is considered one of the world's largest players in the crypto mining sector and has adopted a strict regulatory approach in this field. In October, eight major crypto mining operators sent an open letter to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, claiming that high energy costs were putting the crypto mining industry in a "very difficult situation."