Uzbekistan blocks access to foreign crypto exchanges over unregistered trading

The government of Uzbekistan, which has previously made significant steps toward a moderate approach to crypto, announced Wednesday that it has restricted access to a number of large international crypto exchanges due to accusations of unlicensed activity.

In a statement from Aug. 10, the National Agency of Perspective Projects (NAPP) projects informed that “various electronic platforms” provide services for trade and exchange of crypto-assets without obtaining the required license in violation of the existing legislation and thus access to them was restricted.

However, the tone of the statement suggested that after obtaining a license and fulfilling the requirement to deploy servers on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as prescribed by law, there should be no further obstacles to foreign exchanges providing their services. As for now:

“They have no legal responsibility for transactions with crypto-assets, and cannot guarantee the legitimacy of transactions, as well as the proper storage and protection of confidentiality of personal data of citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan.”

The existing legislation that is being referred to is the presidential decree from July 3, 2018, "On measures to develop the digital economy and the sphere of crypto-assets turnover in the Republic of Uzbekistan."

Related: What Kazakhstan’s new tax regime means for the crypto mining industry

The NAPP itself gained the status of principal crypto regulator in the country fairly recently — at the end of April 2022, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev issued a decree on regulating the industry, committing the newly formed agency to the mission of adopting a “special crypto regulation regime” in Uzbekistan.

In June, the NAPP said it would only allow companies using solar energy to mine Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies in the country. The executive order also obliged any mining operator to obtain a certificate and register in the national registry of crypto mining companies.

Binance, FTX and Huobi are among the global exchanges that were being used by Uzbeki crypto investors. Cointelegraph reached out to confirm the situation with them and will update the story once new information becomes available.