Kazakhstan is trying to turn its new first-category payment organisation licence into a regulated channel for crypto-linked regional settlement.
Under a memorandum with the National Bank, Binance plans to create a local group company, apply for that licence and route part of its regional payments and money-transfer activity through Kazakhstan if approved.
Binance Plans Local Payment Entity
The structure would give Binance a licensed payments base in Kazakhstan for settlements connected with digital-asset transactions by clients in Central Asia, the CIS and Eastern Europe.
It would also give the National Bank a large global test case for rules that extend Kazakhstan’s digital-asset policy beyond trading venues.
Part of Binance’s regional payment infrastructure and operations would then be based in Kazakhstan. A payment or transfer requiring settlement for a Binance customer in one of the covered markets could be routed through the local entity.
The National Bank would still control entry into that system. It would decide whether to grant the licence and apply requirements covering payment infrastructure, financial stability, system reliability, KYC and AML controls.
New Licence Extends Policy Beyond Crypto Trading
The licence is in line with Kazakhstan’s broader move to bring crypto trading, payments and tokenisation into supervised infrastructure.
Since May 2026, the National Bank has overseen digital-asset service providers operating in Kazakhstan outside the Astana International Financial Centre, while the AIFC continues to regulate firms within its own jurisdiction.
That wider framework covers digital financial assets, including money-backed stablecoins, tokenised real-world assets and digital forms of traditional financial instruments.
Three Memoranda, No Launch Approval
Between September 4 and 7, Binance announced three related memoranda with the National Bank, the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, and the Astana International Financial Centre.
The National Bank memorandum covers payment infrastructure and the proposed local payment organisation; the ministry agreement includes studying a possible Kazakhstan stablecoin and payment infrastructure using digital assets; and the AIFC agreement concerns investment-related applications.
The National Bank and Binance have prepared a roadmap covering infrastructure, licensing and possible payment products.
No licence has been announced, and the parties have not disclosed the final list of countries, products, settlement volumes, technical structure or launch date.
Kazakhstan has a potential anchor client for its regional payments push, but not yet an operating settlement network.
This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.
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