Uzbekistan has restricted access to unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges and exchange services. The ForkLog information has been verified by the National Advanced Projects Agency (NAPP), which acts as the industry regulator in the country.

NAPP emphasized that exchanges and other platforms serving in the field of crypto-asset transfer must obtain a service provider license to operate in Uzbekistan.

The regulator noted that such sites also request personal data of residents of the country, without taking into account the requirement to set up servers on the territory of Uzbekistan:

“Moreover, they do not bear any legal responsibility for the execution of transactions with crypto assets, cannot guarantee the legitimacy of transactions, as well as the proper storage and protection of the privacy of citizens’ personal data.”

According to the April decision, from January 1, 2023, citizens and legal entities of Uzbekistan will be able to trade or exchange cryptocurrencies only through service providers.

“Since that moment [публикации постановления] We did not block foreign platforms because we understood that our citizens had funds on these platforms. However, this measure did not mean that citizens could safely trade on foreign platforms until January 1, 2023. There is already a ban on this since 2019,” NAPP said.

Currently, only one exchange, UzNEX, has been licensed to operate in Uzbekistan.

“We are always ready to consider applications for licenses from all major crypto exchanges if they are interested in starting their activities on the territory of Uzbekistan in accordance with the requirements of the law,” NAPP said.

Recall that in 2021, the Uzbek authorities urged residents of the country not to use “unofficial” platforms for trading and exchanging cryptocurrencies.

In June 2022, NAPP developed a logging policy for miners.

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