Uzbekistan

DeFi Intel Research Desk2026-07-15Asia

Is crypto legal in Uzbekistan? (2026)

Yes — cryptocurrency is legal in Uzbekistan. Current status: Legal via NAPP-licensed providers only. Oversight sits with NAPP · Central Bank of Uzbekistan (stablecoin sandbox). Full details — governing law, licensing, tax and dated enforcement history — follow below (last reviewed 2026-07-15).

Framework: Presidential Decree No. UP-121 (27 April 2022) established a special regime for crypto-asset circulation under the National Agency of Perspective Projects (NAPP); Presidential Resolution No. RP-359 (27 November 2025) adds a special legal regime for stablecoins and tokenised securities effective 1 January 2026.

Decree UP-121 reorganised the National Agency for Project Management into NAPP and made it the single regulator for crypto-asset turnover. NAPP licenses crypto exchanges, crypto stores, crypto depositories and mining pools, and maintains public electronic registers of licences, mining permissions, special-regime participants and crypto-assets. The regime is closed by design: from 1 January 2023, Uzbek citizens and companies may lawfully transact only through licensed providers, and UP-121 prohibits using crypto-assets as a means of payment — a bar that RP-359 partially lifts for stablecoins from 2026 via a sandbox jointly supervised by NAPP and the Central Bank. Mining is reserved for legal entities after electronic registration with NAPP. A snapshot of NAPP's licence register fetched on 15 July 2026 showed 15 active licences: two crypto-exchanges (Coinpay, licensed July 2024; Asterium, April 2026), five crypto-depositories (the first, Lockton Hub, licensed June 2023) and eight crypto-stores (the earliest still active, Crypto Express, November 2022) — alongside six suspended licences (Paynet Crypto's depository and store licences, plus the Crypto Market, Cryptocorp, C-Cash and T-Firm stores), evidence of active supervision.

Tax treatment

Special-regime pilot projects under Decree UP-121 are exempt from all taxes and mandatory contributions to state funds, and from customs payments (except fees) on equipment imported for their own needs; employee wages in such projects are taxed at a flat 7.5%. NAPP also maintains a list of specially authorised crypto-exchanges offering a special tax regime to foreign citizens. General capital-gains treatment outside the licensed regime is pending verification.

• Special-regime pilot projects: exempt from taxes and state-fund contributions; 7.5% flat wage tax
• Capital-gains rate (outside regime): Pending verification

Travel rule applicability

Status: licensed-perimeter supervision. Licensed providers must verify user identities and host servers storing Uzbek citizens' personal data inside the country — the grounds NAPP cited when blocking unlicensed foreign exchanges. Specific FATF travel-rule transfer-data thresholds are pending verification.

Notable enforcement actions

• 2022. NAPP blocked access to Binance, Huobi, FTX, Bybit and other foreign exchanges for operating without licences and breaching data-localisation rules, and later fined Binance 300 basic calculated amounts.
• 2025. Binance returned to the Uzbek market in January 2025 after three years blocked, operating through a local partner.
• 2026. NAPP's register shows a wave of licence suspensions: Crypto Market's store licence suspended six months from 1 March 2026; the Cryptocorp, C-Cash and T-Firm store licences suspended six months from 1 April 2026; and Paynet Crypto's depository and store licences suspended in April 2026.

Public licensed CASP list

NAPP publishes its electronic registry of licensed crypto-asset service providers at napp.uz. As of the 15 July 2026 snapshot — active: crypto-exchanges Coinpay and Asterium; crypto-depositories Lockton Hub, Japan DXT, City Pay Gate, Tghamyon and Asterium; crypto-stores Crypto Express, T-Rex, C-Base, Coinpay, City Pay Gate, Crypto Magnat, Asterium and Unex Payments (licensed June 2026). Suspended: Paynet Crypto (depository and store), plus the Crypto Market, Cryptocorp, C-Cash and T-Firm stores. Consult the NAPP register for live status.

Comparison to neighbours

Compare Uzbekistan crypto regulation with three geographically adjacent jurisdictions:

Doing business in Uzbekistan — practical notes

Market entry requires a NAPP licence in one of the defined categories (exchange, store, depository, mining pool), with identity verification and in-country data storage as hard requirements — foreign platforms that skipped licensing were blocked, and re-entry has come through local partners. Residents cannot lawfully use unlicensed foreign exchanges. The stablecoin and tokenised-securities regime effective 1 January 2026 opens payment-adjacent use cases through the NAPP–Central Bank sandbox; verify current NAPP rules before structuring.

Methodology and sources

This profile was researched and updated by DeFi Intel's research desk on 2026-07-15 from the primary and secondary sources listed below. Claims that could not be verified against a source are omitted or marked pending — we do not republish unverified third-party datasets. Submit corrections and primary-source links to [email protected].

Sources

• NAPP — electronic registry of licensed crypto-asset service providers
• NAPP — decision to fine the Binance crypto-exchange
• Kinstellar — Decree UP-121 and the crypto special regime
• CoinDesk — Binance among exchanges blocked as Uzbekistan clamps down (Aug 2022)
• Gazeta.uz — Binance returns via local partner (Jan 2025)
• Lightspark country brief — Uzbekistan compliance overview incl. Resolution RP-359 (2026)