Kyrgyzstan Crypto Market grows as VASP licensing takes hold

Kyrgyzstan’s crypto market surged to $31B turnover in 2025

According to the Financial Market Regulation and Supervision Service of Kyrgyzstan, the country’s cryptocurrency turnover exceeded $31 billion in 2025, roughly tripling from the previous year. The figure, which is based on state-reported activity, underscores that the Kyrgyzstan crypto market has become one of the fastest-growing sectors of the national economy.

This article reviews official disclosures and ministerial statements to consolidate the size of the market, the evolving licensing regime, and the fiscal impact. All figures are attributed to named public bodies or officials, and forward-looking implications are framed conditionally.

Licensing, taxes, and participants show formalization and fiscal impact

The regulatory foundation was laid by the Law “On Virtual Assets,” adopted in 2022, which formally recognized virtual assets and defined licensing for Virtual Asset Service Providers; as summarized by Cointelegraph, this framework has provided institutional legitimacy for crypto activity. The law has since been complemented by supervisory actions and participant registration that indicate increasing formalization of the market.

Said Bakyt Sydykov, Minister of Economy and Commerce, turnover on cryptocurrency exchangers and exchanges reached 1 trillion Kyrgyz soms (over US$11.4 billion) in the first seven months of 2025, alongside 169 registered money exchangers, 13 crypto exchanges, and 11 industrial mining companies. He also announced that, beginning January 1, 2026, crypto exchanges will be required to maintain authorized capital of at least 10 billion soms; the frequently cited U.S. dollar equivalent for this threshold has appeared inconsistent in some retellings and may warrant clarification in implementing guidance.

As reported by Kabar, about 1 billion soms in taxes were collected from crypto industry participants over the same seven-month period in 2025. These collections, together with growing participant counts, suggest the sector’s rising fiscal relevance, even as detailed, audited breakdowns by activity type were not provided in the public summaries reviewed for this report.

Industry infrastructure is also maturing through compliance and accounting training, according to the Association of Virtual Asset Market Participants (Kyrgyzstan). “A few years ago, most Kyrgyz people saw the crypto market as a scam or a pyramid scheme. That perception is changing. People and businesses now see it as an opportunity,” said Temir Kazybaev, Chairman of the association.

Official figures: regulator, Minister Bakyt Sydykov, and industry association

Taken together, state disclosures from the financial supervisor, ministerial briefings, and industry association statements present a consistent picture of rapid growth anchored in licensing and taxation. The authority’s 2025 turnover tally of more than $31 billion and the minister’s mid‑year 2025 snapshot of 1 trillion soms in platform turnover and 1 billion soms in taxes describe acceleration across both activity and fiscal channels.

President Sadyr Zhaparov stated in October 2025 that Kyrgyzstan ranks 19th globally for cryptocurrency adoption and leads Central Asia, highlighting a youthful population, clean energy access, and ongoing digitalization as supportive factors. While such rankings derive from specific methodologies, they align directionally with the state-reported surge in domestic cryptocurrency turnover.

For contextual market background at the time of this writing, based on Nasdaq data, Coinbase Global (COIN) last traded around $166.19 in the overnight session; this descriptive datapoint does not bear on Kyrgyz regulatory or fiscal metrics and should not be interpreted as investment guidance.