The AIFC court, the court of the Astana International Financial Centre, has ordered the operators of six crypto platforms, Coinbase, BingX, Bitcoin.com, Huobi Global (HTX), BitMart and WEEX, to stop offering unlicensed digital-asset services in the financial centre and to stop distributing their mobile apps there. The Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA), the AIFC regulator that brought the case, announced the injunctions on 20 October 2026, five weeks after the court granted a default judgment on 15 September.
Several headlines have presented the news as Kazakhstan shutting down mobile access to the six exchanges. The court papers say less than that. Apple and Google become bound by the order only once notice has been served on them, and AFSA’s statement says the orders “will be sent” to the two store operators. No source we found confirms that any of the six apps has been pulled from a Kazakh app store, and none of the companies has commented publicly.
The reach of the order is also read in two ways. The order itself confines both bans to the territory of the AIFC and to users located there, and AFSA’s announcement describes the injunctions the same way. But the rest of AFSA’s statement talks about access in Kazakhstan, and two outlets that covered the case stress that it is not a nationwide ban.
What the AIFC court ordered on 15 and 18 September
The case, AIFC-C/CFI/2026/0010, was filed by AFSA against “persons unknown” and decided in the AIFC Court of First Instance by Justice Sir Stephen Richards. The court ruled by default: according to FinanceFeeds, none of the operators filed an acknowledgment of service or a defence.
The order, in the version amended on 18 September and published by the court, restrains the six operators in two ways. They may not provide, offer or market digital-asset services on AIFC territory, or to users located there, without the authorisation required by Article 12-1 of Kazakhstan’s Law on Digital Assets of 6 February 2023. And they may not distribute or make available mobile apps, through any platform, for providing such unauthorised services in the AIFC or to users located in it.
A seventh name dropped out three days after the judgment. AFSA applied on 16 September to remove LBank, and the court agreed on 18 September. The variation order says LBank’s operator had told the regulator it had taken measures to address its concerns; AFSA’s announcement says the operator blocked access to its services in Kazakhstan.
The same variation order corrected typing errors in the amounts written out in words. The figures themselves did not change.
| Date | Step | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 15 September 2026 | AIFC Court grants AFSA default judgment and order against seven platform operators | Variation order, AFSA |
| 16 September 2026 | AFSA applies to remove LBank from the order | Variation order |
| 18 September 2026 | Order varied: LBank removed, six operators remain, cost wording corrected | Variation order |
| 20 October 2026 | AFSA announces the injunctions; orders to be sent to Google Play and App Store operators | AFSA |
KZT 1.995 million in legal costs, not a fine
The order makes the six operators jointly and severally liable for AFSA’s costs: KZT 1,995,479.95 in total, of which KZT 1,950,479.95 covers legal work and KZT 45,000 court fees. That is a reimbursement of the regulator’s costs of bringing the case. The order imposes no fine or penalty on top of it, and the AFSA statement does not mention one.
Joint and several liability means AFSA can recover the whole sum from any one of the operators, which then settles with the others. Whether anyone has paid is not public.
Apple and Google are bound only once they are served
Paragraph 4 of the order says notice of the judgment “shall be served” on Google LLC and Apple Inc at their US addresses for legal process, Mountain View for Google and Cupertino for Apple. Paragraph 5 adds that, upon service, both companies will be bound “as if they had been parties to the claim” under the AIFC Court Rules. They were not defendants.
Paragraph 7 gives them a way out: once they have acknowledged service, Apple and Google may ask the court to set aside or vary the order. Neither company has said whether it intends to comply, to challenge, or whether it has received anything.
AFSA’s own wording points to the future. “The relevant Court orders will be sent to the operators of Google Play and the Apple App Store to restrict access to these services,” said Evgeniya Bogdanova, AFSA’s chief executive. FinanceFeeds wrote that the court directed notice to be served on the two companies, and that AFSA had not confirmed whether the six apps had been restricted or removed. TokenPost said Google and Apple “are to receive notice of the judgment.” We found no document confirming service.
AIFC only or all of Kazakhstan?
The order’s text is narrow. Both restraints refer to “the territory of the AIFC” and to users located in it. The AIFC is a special financial jurisdiction centred on a district of Astana, with its own court, its own rules and its own regulator.
AFSA’s announcement starts from the same point: it says the operators are barred from offering services and distributing apps “within the AIFC without the appropriate licence”. The rest of the statement is framed around the country. LBank was dropped after it blocked access to its services in Kazakhstan. Nine other platforms restricted their apps in Kazakhstan on both stores. Bogdanova said the platforms had been offering services “in Kazakhstan without the required permission”, and that for the remaining six, “access restrictions will be enforced on the basis of the Court injunctions”. AFSA adds that the decision applies to Google and Apple for geographically restricting access, without naming the geography.
FinanceFeeds says the injunctions are limited to the AIFC’s jurisdiction and are not a nationwide prohibition. TokenPost also limits them to the centre’s jurisdiction and to people using the services from there.
FinanceFeeds gives a reason for the gap. AFSA originally sought broader relief, the outlet says, but supervision of digital-asset activity outside the AIFC passed to the National Bank of Kazakhstan on 1 May, and the court narrowed the order accordingly. AFSA could return to the court for wider relief later, it adds. AFSA has not said so publicly.
How the order would work in practice is unclear. App stores sell by country storefront; the order speaks of users located in one financial district. Neither the order nor AFSA’s statement explains how Apple and Google would separate a user inside the AIFC from one elsewhere in Astana, or whether they would simply restrict the apps for the whole Kazakh store. Until one of them acts, writing that the apps are banned in Kazakhstan would go beyond the record.
Why AFSA went to court: unlicensed competition and missing safeguards
According to AFSA, the court accepted that unauthorised services undermine the integrity of the AIFC framework and create unfair competition for licensed firms, which carry the cost of anti-money-laundering checks, due diligence and supervision. The regulator also warned that clients of unlicensed platforms get no safeguarding of their assets, no required disclosure, no complaints handling and no dispute resolution.
The case was the end of a longer campaign. AFSA says it sent written warnings to more than 20 platforms in 2025 and began court proceedings in early 2026 against those that kept operating without a licence. Nine platforms then restricted their apps in Kazakhstan on both stores, and AFSA withdrew its claims against them. Seven others told AFSA they intend to apply for licences as digital asset trading facilities. AFSA did not name either group in its announcement.
Bogdanova called the decision “the result of extensive and consistent efforts by AFSA’s Supervision and Enforcement teams”.
Kazakhstan has blocked Coinbase before, in 2023
This is not the first time Coinbase has been cut off in the country. In November 2023 the Ministry of Culture and Information blocked Coinbase’s website, citing the Law on Digital Assets and the absence of an AIFC licence, CryptoSlate reported on 7 November 2023. Interactive Brokers and NYMEX were affected at the same time.
A month later the Financial Monitoring Agency said it had restricted access to 980 unlicensed crypto exchanges during 2023 and had opened nine investigations, Cointelegraph reported on 8 December 2023. Those were website blocks by government agencies. The 2026 case is different: a court order against the operators of named platforms, with a route to the app stores.
On the licensed side, AFSA gave Binance and Bybit formal consent toward full trading-facility licences in September 2024, Cointelegraph reported at the time. We did not consult AFSA’s current register for this piece, so we cannot give an up-to-date list of licensed exchanges.
Two regulators since May: AFSA and the National Bank
Since May 2026, AFSA says, it has worked closely with the National Bank of Kazakhstan, which it calls the national regulator responsible for digital-asset activities. According to FinanceFeeds, since 1 May the National Bank has licensed and supervised crypto service providers operating outside the AIFC, while AFSA keeps authority over firms inside the financial centre. The split explains much of the confusion. An AIFC court acts on AIFC matters; what happens in the rest of the country is the National Bank’s field. In the sources we found, the National Bank has announced no comparable action against the six platforms.
What users of the six platforms can do now
None of the six platforms has published guidance for Kazakh users in the sources we found, and there is no information on withdrawals or account closures. AFSA’s advice is to check its Public Register before using a platform. Beyond that, a few general precautions apply to anyone whose app may disappear from a store:
- Follow only the platform’s official notices, on its own website or verified accounts, for any change to service.
- Do not install an exchange app from a link sent by message or posted in a chat, as fake apps often appear when a real one is withdrawn.
- If you decide to move funds, withdraw through the platform’s official channels only, to an address you control.
Readers outside Kazakhstan are not covered by this order, which by its text concerns the AIFC and users located there. BingX, for one, holds an EU licence: its Vienna MiCA authorisation appeared in ESMA’s register last week. Licences are granted country by country, which is one of the points in our guide to choosing a crypto exchange.
What to watch next
The first thing to watch is whether AFSA or the court confirms that notice has reached Apple and Google, and whether the six apps change status in the Kazakh stores. The second is the response from the two app store operators, which can apply to set aside or vary the order once they acknowledge service.
AFSA may also go back to the court: paragraph 6 of the order leaves it free to apply for different terms, and FinanceFeeds says wider relief remains possible. The names of the nine platforms that withdrew their apps and the seven seeking licences have not been published. Coinbase, HTX, BingX, Bitcoin.com, BitMart and WEEX have not commented in the coverage reviewed for this piece.