Kazakhstan approves tax regime for crypto miners

On 7 December, the Majilis of Kazakhstan approved the draft law “On Digital Assets” and four accompanying regulatory acts regulating mining. The documents направят на согласование to the Senate.

Cryptocurrency mining activities will be subject to mandatory licensing. Accreditation will be carried out in two categories:

• Digital miners owning the relevant infrastructure — data centres meeting the equipment, location and security requirements;
• Digital miners — owners of equipment leasing racks in data centres and not claiming an energy quota.

For mining pools, separate requirements have been introduced regarding the location of their server capacity on the territory of the country and compliance with information security rules.

Miners will be able to acquire electricity only when there is a surplus and exclusively through KOREM.

“For this volume, price restrictions have been removed; trading will be conducted exclusively through market mechanisms,” according to Mazhilis deputy Ekaterina Smyshlyaeva, Sputnik Казахстан.

The bills lay out taxation of cryptocurrency mining operations. It includes:

• Corporate income tax for digital miners. Calculated based on the value of the product at the moment of receipt as a reward;
• Corporate income tax for mining pools on commissions earned for services rendered;
• Tax on capital gains for individuals when dealing in cryptocurrency;
• Corporate income tax (CIT) on crypto exchanges as economic entities (platforms are removed from the favourable tax regime of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) for CIT).

The issuance and circulation of secured digital assets is permitted only on specialized platforms after obtaining a special permit and with collateral. They are regulated analogously to securities.

A ban on advertising cryptocurrency transactions is also planned.

Currently, the circulation of cryptocurrencies and the operation of crypto exchanges in Kazakhstan are permitted only under the jurisdiction of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC).

As reported in October, the bills regulating the issuance and circulation of cryptocurrencies within Kazakhstan were approved in the first reading в первом чтении.

In January, the Kazakhstan Power Grid Management Company cut off the power supply to mining farms. Since then, the restriction has been extended multiple times.

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