Uzbekistan President Issues Decree Regulating Cryptocurrencies, Mining and Trading – Regulation Bitcoin News

Through a Presidential Decree, the Uzbek government has expanded its crypto regulations. It defines key terms for crypto assets and the exchange.

The Agency under President Mirziyoyev is to oversee the Crypto Market in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan’s head of state, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has signed a new decree expanding the regulatory framework for the Central Asian nation’s crypto space. The stated purpose of the decree is to develop new digital technologies and create conditions that encourage entrepreneurship, as well as improve legislation.

Forklog reports that the President’s National Agency for Project Management has become the National Agency for Perspective Projects. The NAPP will become the country’s main crypto watchdog.

The regulatory body has been tasked to implement the state policy in the crypto economy and ensure investors’ rights are protected. The regulatory body will be responsible for introducing crypto technology to the public sector, as well as fighting money laundering and terrorist financing.

Crypto assets are property rights that include digital records stored in distributed ledgers. They can be described as a set of digital records with value, and their owner. Starting from Jan. 1, 2023, Uzbekistan’s citizens and companies will be allowed to buy, sell and exchange cryptocurrencies through crypto service providers.

The President’s order lists a number of entities that fall under this category, including digital asset exchanges, mining pools, crypto depositories, and crypto stores. The government agency will require them to register their businesses as local business and get mining certificates or licenses.

Although crypto trading was allowed in Uzbekistan by 2018, the government made it illegal for locals to purchase cryptocurrencies. They were only allowed to sell. Citizens were allowed to trade cryptocurrency assets in national currency at licensed crypto exchanges. Non-residents could exchange digital coins for fiat.

Decree Bans Unauthorized Mining, Minting of ‘Anonymous’ Cryptos

Only Uzbekistan’s registered companies will have the ability to mine cryptocurrency. In peak times, mining farms will be subject to a more expensive electricity tariff. It will also be forbidden to mine without authorization. The ban applies to the minting of what the decree calls “anonymous cryptocurrencies” as well and any transactions with them.

As before, Uzbekistanis won’t be allowed to accept or use cryptocurrencies for payment of goods and services in the country. The document from April 27, 2022 states that crypto-related transactions by individuals or companies won’t be subject to taxation.

Participants in the new regulatory sandbox, which will be established by NAPP to test crypto projects, will receive tax breaks. Participating entities in trials will be exempted from any other state obligations, such as customs payments and duties on imported hardware or software.

What are your thoughts on Uzbekistan’s new crypto regulations? Please leave your comments below.

Lubomir Tassav

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’s quote: “Being a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.