The Law on Virtual Assets in Kyrgyzstan

The Law of the Kyrgyz Republic “on Virtual assets” dated January 21, 2022 No. 12 came into force in the country. The purpose of the Law is to regulate relations arising from the turnover of virtual assets, i.e., their creation, issue, storage, and circulation.

Blockchain, virtual assets, virtual asset wallet, miner, mining, mining equipment, industrial mining, virtual asset trading operator (crypto-exchange), digital token, virtual asset issuer, and other concepts are introduced in the law.

The law applies to activities in the sphere of circulation of virtual assets in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic. Being a new type of activity in the Kyrgyz market, there are no special requirements related to virtual assets under the tax legislation of Kyrgyzstan.
It is not applicable to activities in the fields of securities, currencies, electronic money, reserves, contributions and gambling activities as determined by the banking legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic.

A virtual asset is a digitized intangible asset which is an expression of value and a means of certifying property rights and is created, stored and circulated using distributed ledger technology or similar technology and is not a monetary unit , means of payment and security in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Virtual assets can be secured or unsecured. Secured virtual assets include digital tokens that are a digital means of certifying property and non-property rights, including the right to claim other objects of civil rights provided by the issuer of secured virtual assets, as well as other virtual assets secured by other objects of civil rights.

A virtual asset can be both an independent object of civil law and a means of certifying property and non-property rights, including claims to other objects of civil rights.

The activities of mining, release and initial placement of virtual assets and those of virtual service providers are recognized as regulated activities.
Individuals and legal entities have the right to own, use, and dispose of virtual assets, including the right to exchange virtual assets for other types of virtual assets, as well as to acquire or sell virtual assets, to carry out mining, to realize other activities using virtual assets according to the legislation in the field of virtual assets.

Legal entities are also entitled to issue and place their own virtual assets in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic and abroad under the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic in the field of virtual assets.

Legal entities and individuals are required to comply with the requirements of the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic in the field of circulation of virtual assets and provide information and report on transactions with virtual assets within the timeframe and procedure established by the authorized body.

The law comes into force six months after the date of its official publication.