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The Republic of Uzbekistan has approved the participation of another private bank in its ongoing national crypto card project. The National Agency for Perspective Projects (NAPP), the country’s digital asset regulatory agency, announced in a press release on August 15, 2023, that Ravnaq-bank has been registered as a member of the Special Regulatory Sandbox System.
Second Approval for Credit Cards
According to regulations published by the Ministry of Justice of Uzbekistan on December 30, 2022, the Special Regulatory Sandbox System serves as a special framework that grants specific organizations in the crypto field the authority to provide specialized services.
Ravnaq-bank now has the authority to actively participate in the pilot implementation of the country’s crypto card project, called “CRYPTO CARD – UzNEX,” under this system.
According to NAPP’s announcement, this card will allow customers to quickly sell their crypto assets in a digital wallet on a common crypto exchange platform and automatically add the funds to their main accounts.
As stated by NAPP, the development of the crypto card will involve testing its compatibility with various financial systems, including the Mastercard payment platform.
The agency stated:
The participant in the special regulatory sandbox will test the solution for integrating the automated banking system, the information system of the crypto exchange, the bank’s transaction center, and the MasterCard international payment system.
Based on further data from NAPP, Ravnaq-bank became the second participant in this project along with Kapitalbank, which was previously approved in May 2023. While Ravnaq-bank aims to launch its test phase by the end of October 2023, Kapitalbank had already started its test phase at the end of June 2023. However, NAPP expects both banks to begin the full launch of the project by the end of December 2023.
In addition to the two private banks, the current member of the Special Regulatory Sandbox System is UZINFOCOM, a company authorized to work on the development of NFT certificates based on distributed ledger technology.
Crypto Regulation in Uzbekistan
Last year, the Uzbekistan government accelerated its efforts to introduce clear and effective regulations in the growing crypto space. In May 2022, the Central Asian country established the National Agency for Perspective Projects to serve as the primary regulatory body for all crypto-related activities, including mining, trading, blockchain applications, and more.
Following the commission, NAPP began preparations to introduce a new cryptocurrency framework that would allow only licensed virtual asset service providers to operate in 2023.
In August 2022, Uzbekistan banned the activities of certain exchanges, including Binance and FTX, for not complying with licensing registration standards. Four months later, NAPP granted the first two crypto licenses for Crypto Trade NET LLC and Crypto Market LLC, and has since issued licenses to seven more crypto businesses.
