Kyrgyzstan Central Bank Plans to Introduce Two Crypto Bills

The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic (NBKR) recently announced its plans to introduce two crypto bills to regulate the country's exchanges, aiming to combat terrorism, money laundering, and protecting consumers. The latest action intends to respond the growing interest in cryptocurrencies in the country for most of citizens consider it a widespread means of investment nowadays and a solution for cross-border payments.

According to the local media, the central bank's bills are expected to add a series of anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) measures, forcing local crypto exchanges to report their activities. The country wants to reduce the risks of financing terrorist activities and to cut flows of criminal proceeds.

However, the central bank provided the following issues that they expect to solve with one of the bills by monitoring transactions made through the country's crypto exchanges:

​"Lack of a favorable environment for the development of technology and business; the emergence of fraudulent schemes, the risks of financing terrorist activities and legalization (laundering) of criminal proceeds, as well as capital outflow; protection of consumer and investor rights."

But the second bill also aims to force local exchanges to abide by a legal framework to fight crypto fraud, comply with a crypto-related tax system, applying for operation permits that should be asked to the NBKR, and also seeks to define terms such as "virtual asset" within the civil code, plus "cryptocurrency" and "cryptoassets."