The Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) invites all Digital Asset Service Providers (DASPs) authorised in its FinTech Lab to test new types of products and services involving digital assets. The new types of digital assets may involve margin trading, peer-to-peer, derivatives trading, staking, non-fungible trading, digital asset loans and other services. This list of services is a living document and may change given the evolving nature of DLT-related technologies.
To set out its approach to this initiative, AFSA has issued the respective Notice link.
If you as a lincenced DASP are interested to launch and test your new product or services, as a first step please contact AFSA by reaching out to a relevant case officer for further guidance. Meanwhile, those willing to start authorised operations and simultaneously test new products and services in the AIFC need to contact AFSA via the following contact details: +7 (7172) 64-73-72 or [email protected].
This call for a trial run of new products and services comes after two years of key developments in the digital assets industry in AIFC and Kazakhstan. AFSA along with the state authorities of Kazakhstan completed several significant projects to test the operations of DASPs and developed a comprehensive regulatory framework for providing digital asset services in the AIFC.
Notably, the key driver for the developments in the digital asset sector in the AIFC was the launch of the pilot project testing fiat gateways between AIFC cryptoexchanges and commercial banks of Kazakhstan in June 2022. The 1,5 year-long pilot successfully ended in 2023, and provided feedback that was instrumental in the development and enactment of the comprehensive crypto regulatory framework in AIFC. The results of the pilot project also laid down robust regulatory foundation for DASPs and now serve as a leverage for DASPs and AFSA for further crypto innovations in the AIFC.
AFSA Chief Executive Officer Nurkhat Kushimov said: “We witness global rapid development of the DLT-related technologies, a wider trend in assets tokenisation and offerings of the multitude of financial services involving digital assets. Our communication with the market and the feedback that we receive from it show that there is increased demand to expand such services. We at AFSA are committed to further support this demand in a secure way by testing new products and services in the protected environment of out FinTech Lab.
Reference:
The Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) is the independent regulator of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), which is established in accordance with the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On the Astana International Financial Centre” for the purposes of regulating financial services and related activities in the AIFC. AFSA administers the AIFC Regulations and Rules and is responsible for the authorisation, registration, recognition and supervision of financial firms and market institutions in the AIFC.
Over 2,500 firms from 78 countries are registered in the AIFC. These firms provide banking, insurance, investment, professional and other services. The range of financial services offered at the AIFC is comparable to the list of services available in long-established financial centers of the world, such as London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai and others. www.afsa.kz
The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) is an independent jurisdiction with a favourable legal and regulatory environment and a developed infrastructure for starting and doing business, attracting investment, creating jobs and developing Kazakhstan's economy. https://aifc.kz/
Contact information:
Public Relations and Communications Division of AFSA:
+7 (717) 264 73 43; +7 7172 61-37-45 email: [email protected]
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