Kazakhstan's financial watchdog will order banks to automatically block payments to foreign crypto exchanges.

The Kazakhstan Agency for Regulation and Development of Financial Market, which regulates the country's financial sector, is contemplating requiring banks to block payments to offshore crypto exchanges that are not registered with the local financial center.

On Wednesday, Russian state-led news site TASS reported that the regulator's draft would ban crypto exchange transfers, online casino transactions, and under-21 payments.

When dealing with unregistered crypto exchanges, the draft advises restricting transactions up to 100,000 tenge ($205) each month. Banks must do additional due diligence for transactions above $1,000, even with licensed crypto exchanges.

Crypto exchanges in Kazakhstan may only operate in Astana, a financial hub with particular tax, currency, and visa rules. At press time, the nation has 10 licensed crypto exchanges, including Binance and Bybit.

Kazakhstan has begun to regulate non-licensed crypto exchanges, blocking $1.2 million in crypto related to almost two dozen illicit over-the-counter services. Kazakhstan targets both small and large exchangers, crypto.news stated. Over charges of local crypto regulatory breaches, the government banned Coinbase, the biggest US cryptocurrency exchange, in December 2023.

According to the Ministry of Information, Coinbase's trading activity violated Kazakhstan's Law on Digital Assets, thus the Ministry of Digital Development requested access restrictions. Uninsured digital assets and transactions are illegal.