The rise of the digital asset industry was discussed at Astana Finance Days
A panel session “Rise of Digital Assets: New Opportunities, Risks and Regulation” has taken place within the Regulatory Landscape Forum at Astana Finance Days 2022. The panel session’s speakers included non-executive independent member of the Board of Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) and Head of Regulatory Affairs at Fnality International Daniel Heller, Head of Operations at Bitfinex Securities Jesse Knutson, Law Professor at University of Hong Kong Douglas Arner, Director at Binance for Asia Gleb Kostarev and Chief Executive Officer of AFSA Nurkhat Kushimov.
The session participants have discussed global regulatory trends concerning digital assets, discussed the issues of “balancing” the management of risks and support for FinTech innovations, ensuring protection of retail investors and maintaining financial stability amid volatility of digital assets. The speakers also shared views about the role of big crypto players as gatekeepers of crypto community.
To support financial innovation in 2018 AFSA launched FinTech Lab regulatory sandbox. Companies licensed within the sandbox have an opportunity to test innovative financial services in a controlled environment. At the moment, there are six crypto-exchanges, one crypto-broker and one tokenised investment exhange in the sandbox.
“Creating balanced regulatory conditions for the crypto market allows to manage the risks of the industry without impeding its further development”, said Chief Executive Officer of AFSA Nurkhat Kushimov.
Reference:
The Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) is the independent regulator of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), which is established in accordance with the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On the Astana International Financial Centre” for the purposes of regulating financial services and related activities in the AIFC. AFSA administers the AIFC Regulations and Rules and is responsible for the authorisation, registration, recognition and supervision of financial firms and market institutions in the AIFC.
Over 1,400 firms from 64 countries are registered in the AIFC. These firms provide banking, insurance, investment, professional and other services. The range of financial services offered at the AIFC is comparable to the list of services available in long-established financial centers of the world, such as London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai and others. www.afsa.kz
The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) is an independent jurisdiction that started operations in 2018. In accordance with the Development Strategy until 2025, the key focus of the AIFC is to consolidate as a universal platform connecting the countries of the EAEU, Central Asia and the Caucasus. www.aifc.kz
