- Owning cryptocurrency in Kazakhstan is legal. Buying and selling: only through licensed venues.
- Until May 2026 legal deals went only through AIFC exchanges. From 1 May 2026 turnover is allowed across the whole country via providers licensed by the National Bank.
- P2P deals and grey exchangers remain outside the law. Paying for goods and services with crypto is not allowed.
- Tax: 10% IIT on the capital gain on sale. Digital assets are stated in the 270.00 declaration.
Why this matters to a trader
USDT and Bitcoin as a funding method exist at about half the brokers in the shortlist, and at born2trade it's the only method at all. So before funding a question arises: where to legally get crypto and how to legally turn it back into tenge after withdrawal.
What the law says
The base document: the law “On digital assets in the Republic of Kazakhstan” No. 193-VII of 06.02.2023. In the Kazakhstan classification, Bitcoin, USDT and other classic cryptocurrencies count as unsecured digital assets (USDT is pegged to the dollar, but under RK law that doesn't make it secured). Their issuance and turnover on the country's territory are banned, with one exception: licensed AIFC exchanges. Ownership, however, is not banned, whereas paying for goods and services with crypto is not allowed.
From 1 May 2026 the regulation is expanded: turnover of digital assets is allowed across the whole country, but only through licensed participants. Crypto exchanges and exchangers outside the AIFC must obtain a National Bank licence, and trading platforms must complete registration. The practical meaning for an individual doesn't change: the legal point of entry and exit is a licensed venue, there are just more of them now.
The situation “bought USDT on a licensed exchange, sent it to a foreign broker's wallet, sold it there after withdrawal” isn't described by the law directly: it regulates issuance, turnover and the activity of venues, not transfers of your own assets between your own wallets and accounts. The safe logic is this: buy and sell only on a licensed venue, keep the history of all operations. Buying USDT from a private person via P2P formally breaks the ban on turnover outside licensed venues, and there'll be nothing to prove the origin of such money to a bank or the tax authority.
Tax on crypto
Selling digital assets is a separate taxable income: 10% IIT on the capital gain, that is on the positive difference between the sale price and the purchase price. For conversion into tenge a special rule applies here: the arithmetic-mean official rate for the calendar year in which the sale took place is used. The digital assets themselves are stated in the 270.00 declaration.