According to Cointelegraph, Kapital Bank and Ravnaq Bank in Uzbekistan have received approval from the National Agency for Perspective Projects (NAPP) to participate in the digital sandbox of crypto regulation. As part of the initiative, both banks will issue plastic Mastercard-powered crypto cards.
The NAPP reported approval for Ravnaq Bank to join its pilot on August 14, while earlier in May 2023, the agency confirmed Kapital Bank would also issue its crypto card. The Uzbeki crypto card, named UzNEX, will integrate a bank account with access to a crypto exchange and an automated exchange mechanism, supported by Mastercard.
The deadline for the final customer rollout of both banks' crypto cards is set for the end of December 2023. Kapital Bank and Ravnaq are two of the three registered participants in the national digital sandbox. From 2023, Uzbekistan enforced restrictions on crypto services provision to licensed firms only. Local crypto firms were granted their first licenses in November 2022.
Uzbekistan had earlier restricted access to several large international crypto exchanges, such as Binance, FTX, and Huobi, due to allegations of unlicensed activity. The country's regulatory approach to crypto began with a presidential decree in 2022, which launched the NAPP to oversee the digital assets industry and provided comprehensive legal details regarding cryptocurrency mining operations in the country.