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Binance signs MoU with Kazakhstan to develop the country's digital asset market
(Kitco News) - Binance, the top global cryptocurrency exchange by volume, has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Financial Monitoring Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan to formalize their shared interest in developing the digital asset market in the country.
The move is part of Binance’s effort to establish a global law enforcement training program to help get regulators around the world up to date with the most recent developments in regulating the cryptocurrency space.
The program includes officials from a variety of global regulatory and law enforcement organizations and has the goal of strengthening industry cooperation with national and international law enforcement in the fight against financial crime and cybercrime.
A secondary goal of the program is to be able to identify and block digital assets obtained illegally and used to launder criminal proceeds and finance terrorism.
Back in May, Binance signed an MoU with Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry, where the two parties expressed mutual interest in virtual asset market development in the country.
Kazakhstan has become a more prominent player in the crypto space thanks to a rapidly growing Bitcoin (BTC) mining ecosystem and positive crypto regulations, including granting crypto exchanges the ability to open bank accounts.
More recently, the country’s government announced that it is ready to legalize a way for people to conduct cryptocurrency conversions if there is sufficient demand.
In August, Binance obtained an in-principle approval to operate in Kazakhstan from the Astana Financial Services Authority.
Other countries where the Binance law enforcement training program has already been established include Israel, Canada, Brazil, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Norway.
While the program was only officially launched on Sept. 26, Binance’s investigations team has been conducting workshops with law enforcement agencies for the past year.
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An additional objective of the program is to help cryptocurrency companies like Binance expand to jurisdictions that don’t have an established crypto regulatory framework by helping to raise awareness among law enforcement agencies and officials to develop cooperation at a global level.
Binance credits the law enforcement training program with helping it to obtain regulatory approvals in France, Italy and Spain.
According to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, these new developments in Kazakhstan are part of the exchange's wider global law enforcement training program to link up local and international financial authorities to “fight together against cyber and financial crimes globally.”