Uzbekistan blocks access to most crypto exchanges

The government of Uzbekistan has decided to restrict citizens' access to most cryptocurrency exchanges — the largest of them have already been blocked.

As it became known, the decision to block the exchanges was made by the National Agency for Promising Projects due to the lack of licenses that allow trading in digital assets. Among the exchanges legalized in Uzbekistan is UzNex, which was launched in 2020 and became the first legal trading platform in the country.

Interestingly, among the blocked exchanges is the largest cryptocurrency platform Binance, which was not allowed to serve local traders. Therefore, since August 9, citizens of Uzbekistan have not been able to use Binance services. However, it is not yet known whether the exchange has actually stopped providing services to Uzbeks.

As a reminder, Iranian residents recently announced that they had been using Binance to conduct cryptocurrency transactions despite the sanctions imposed on them, which prohibited Binance from serving them. According to journalists, the platform’s representatives were aware of the «growing number of Iranian users despite the ban» but did not prevent it.