At a glance

  • The AIFC court has barred the operators of BingX, Bitcoin.com, Huobi Global (HTX), BitMart, Coinbase and WEEX from offering or advertising crypto services in the AIFC without a licence, the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) said on Tuesday.
  • Apple and Google, as app-store operators, are covered by the decision and will receive the orders so they can geographically restrict access to the six platforms, the regulator said.

The court granted AFSA’s claims on 15 Sep, the regulator said in a statement published on 20 Oct.

The original judgment also named LBank, AFSA said. After LBank’s operator blocked access to its services in Kazakhstan, the court amended the order on 18 Sep and removed it from the list.

The injunctions prohibit the six operators from providing, offering or advertising digital-asset services, and from distributing mobile apps for that purpose, within the AIFC without the appropriate licence, according to the statement.

How it got here

AFSA said it sent written warnings to more than 20 crypto platforms in 2025 and went to court in early 2026 against those that kept operating without a licence.

Nine platforms then restricted access to their apps in Kazakhstan through Google Play and the Apple App Store, and AFSA withdrew its claims against them, the regulator said. Seven more said they intend to apply for an AFSA licence to run digital-asset trading facilities.

“This Court decision is the result of extensive and consistent efforts by AFSA’s Supervision and Enforcement teams to address the activities of unlicensed crypto platforms that were advertising without authorisation and offering digital asset-related services in Kazakhstan without the required permission,” said Evgeniya Bogdanova, AFSA’s chief executive.

The court said unlicensed services undermine the AIFC’s regulatory framework and create unfair competition for licensed firms that carry anti-money-laundering and customer due-diligence costs, according to AFSA.

BingX, Coinbase and Huobi Global did not immediately answer requests for comment from Cointelegraph, the outlet reported.

Context

AFSA said it has worked with the National Bank of Kazakhstan, which regulates digital-asset activity outside the AIFC, since May 2026. Earlier this month the central bank signed a memorandum with Tether to study a tenge stablecoin, as CryptoWatchDesk reported in Tether’s tenge stablecoin talks with Kazakhstan’s central bank.

Regulators elsewhere in Asia are taking similar steps. On 13 Oct, South Korea blocked 27 unregistered exchange websites, including KuCoin and MEXC (Korea’s block on 27 unregistered exchange websites).

AFSA said the list of firms it licenses for digital-asset services is in its public register, and that it will keep monitoring the sector.

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This article is for information only and is not investment advice.