Uzbekistan allows two banks to issue cryptocurrency cards

Two private banks in Uzbekistan — Capital Bank and ravnak Bank — have received approval from the National Agency for foreseen projects (NAPP) to participate in the digital regulatory fund for cryptocurrency regulation, where both banks will issue plastic cryptocurrency cards backed by Mastercard.

The agency reported on the approval of the pilot project of the ravnak bank. Earlier in May 2023, the agency confirmed that Capital Bank will also issue its card for cryptocurrencies.

According to the press release, the card will be called Uzbek cryptocurrency (UzNEX), it will integrate a bank account with access to the cryptocurrency exchange and an automated exchange mechanism. The card will also be supported by one of the world’s leading payment systems, Mastercard.

Note that the current deadline for the final offering of cryptocurrency cards from the two banks in Uzbekistan is the end of December 2023, as Capital Bank and ravnak bank remain two of the three registered participants in the national digital regulatory fund.

It is noteworthy that as of 2023, the government of Uzbekistan has restricted the provision of cryptocurrency services to licensed cryptocurrency companies. Note that the first licenses were granted to local cryptocurrency companies in November 2022. Before that, Uzbekistan restricted access to a number of large international cryptocurrency exchanges, including “Binance” (Binance),”FTX” (FTX) and”Hubei” (Huobi), due to accusations of unlicensed activities.

The country’s regulatory approach to cryptocurrencies began by presidential decree in 2022 at the launch of the National Action Plan for supervision of the digital asset industry, the decree provided comprehensive legal details related to cryptocurrency mining operations in Uzbekistan.