In Kazakhstan, 36 illegal crypto exchanges were shut down over the past year.

Assets totaling $4.8 million have been frozen and seized, equivalent to about 2.5 billion tenge.

“In recent years, illegal crypto exchanges have played a crucial role in the schemes for legitimizing criminal proceeds, enabling the conversion of cryptocurrency to fiat money and vice versa. Such entities do not identify their clients and fail to detect suspicious transactions. This is why criminals, primarily cyber fraudsters and drug traffickers, often utilize their services,” the AFM explained.

As a result of collaborative efforts with the National Security Committee and the Ministry of Culture and Information, the agency has blocked over 3,500 illegal online crypto exchanges in the past year. Two financial pyramids that used cryptocurrency to attract investments have been exposed. A total of $545,000 has been returned, and $120,000 has been frozen.