Kazakhstan freezes 20,000 money laundering cards and shuts down 22 underground cryptocurrency exchange locations

Kazakhstan President Tokayev listened to the report on the work of the Financial Supervisory Authority (AFM) for 2025, which has completed investigations into 1,135 criminal cases, compensated victims with 141.5 billion tenge, dismantled 15 criminal gangs and 29 platforms engaged in illegal cashing, with a transaction volume exceeding 128 billion tenge. It has also cracked down on the activities of 22 underground cryptocurrency exchange locations involved in money laundering from drug trafficking and fraud, and banned over 1,100 illegal online cryptocurrency trading services and 20,000 deposit cards used for money laundering.