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Planning to expand services to former Soviet Union countries
Crypto asset (virtual currency) exchange Bybit announced on the 26th that it has received approval in principle for operations from the local authorities in Kazakhstan.
In the future, once the application process is completed, it will also be allowed to operate a cryptocurrency exchange and provide custody services at the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) in Kazakhstan.
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou commented:
We are pleased to have received approval in principle from the Astana International Financial Centre. We believe in the potential of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and are eager to open up our world-class trading platform to crypto investors in the region.
It seems that Kazakhstan is seen as a window to the CIS market. Countries such as Russia and Belarus are members of the CIS. Bybit said CIS is “showing remarkable progress in the adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.”
What is the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)?
A community of independent republics following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is an organization for economic and military cooperation. Initially, 12 countries, excluding Russia and the three Baltic states, were members, but now Georgia has withdrawn and Ukraine is also in a state of isolation.
Cryptocurrency Glossary
Bybit points out that Kazakhstan’s Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) leads the regulatory framework for fintech and cryptocurrencies in the CIS countries. He continues to say that he would like to increase his presence in Kazakhstan by operating in line with the regulatory framework.
Situation in Kazakhstan
The government of Kazakhstan is working on a digitalization policy in cooperation with major cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The development of virtual currency-related regulations has also started.
Since April 1 this year, a law has come into force that imposes license registrations on cryptocurrency issuers and monitors them under the Act to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.
Kazakhstan has also become one of the destinations for cryptocurrency miners after the Chinese government tightened its crackdown. As of January 2022, Kazakhstan’s bitcoin hash rate is growing rapidly to the world’s third largest (about 13%).
However, after that, the government restricted power supply to mining operators against the background of power shortages. By May 2023, its share of the global hashrate has fallen to about 4%.
From January 2022, a tax of 1 tenge (0.3 yen) per 1 kWh of electricity used for cryptocurrency mining has been imposed, and in 2022, the tax revenue was approximately 930 million yen.
connection: Kazakhstan introduces tax on miners to raise tax revenue to 900 million yen in 2022
What is hash rate
Mining mining speed. In Japanese, it is expressed as “mining speed”. The unit is “hash/s”. “s” stands for “second” and represents “how many calculations can be done per second”. It is used as an index to show the processing capacity of mining equipment and how fast cryptocurrency mining is performed.
Cryptocurrency Glossary
Russian movement
Among the countries that are members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Russia is particularly active in cryptocurrencies.
It is also considering introducing rules to regulate virtual currency trading platforms, giving legal grounds to virtual currency mining, and allowing international payments using virtual currencies under an experimental system. is.
connection: Russia withdraws plans to establish a state-owned virtual currency exchange = news
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