The government of Uzbekistan, which has previously taken significant steps towards a dovish approach to crypto, announced on Wednesday that it has restricted access to a number of large international crypto exchanges due to allegations of unlicensed activity.
In a statement on August 10, The National Agency for Perspective Projects (NAPP) reported that “several electronic platforms” provide trading and exchange services for crypto assets without obtaining the required license, in violation of current legislation, for which access to them was restricted.
Nevertheless, 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 more obstacles for foreign exchanges to provide their services. For now:
“They have no legal responsibility for transactions with crypto assets, and cannot guarantee the legitimacy of transactions, as well as the correct storage and protection of confidentiality of personal data of citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan.”
The existing legislation referred to is the Presidential Decree of July 3, 2018 “On measures to develop the digital economy and the sphere of turnover of crypto assets in the Republic of Uzbekistan”.
NAPP itself obtained the status of the main regulator of cryptocurrencies in the country quite recently: at the end of April 2022, the President of the Republic, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, issued a decree on the regulation of the industry, entrusting the newly created Agency on a mission to adopt a “special cryptocurrency regulatory regime” in Uzbekistan.
In June, the NAPP said it would only allow companies that use solar energy to mine Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies in the country. The executive order also required any mining operator to obtain a certificate and register with the national registry of cryptocurrency mining companies.
Binance, FTX, and Huobi are some of the global exchanges that were being used by Uzbek crypto investors. Cointelegraph has contacted them to confirm the situation and will update the story once new information becomes available.
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