Blockchain becoming a ‘hype’, says AIFC Managing Director
"New applications of blockchain are emerging. To some extent, it even became somewhat a ‘hype', when a blockchain is used for the sake of a blockchain just to be trending. At the same time, the implementation faces big changes nationwide. (...) Through blockchain, the things are changing greatly in the financial sector, where large financial organizations implement it in their processes for the higher speed and transparency of transactions," Managing Director at the Astana International Financial Centre Kairat Kaliyev told the blockchain conference in Astana.
Kairat Kaliyev underlined that financial technologies are one of the main directions in AIFC's activities. "In this regard, we paid much attention to the blockchain, including crypto assets. A lot of discussions on crypto assets regulation are going on. On this matter, the AIFC takes a stand that it is necessary to regulate crypto assets so that to reduce the chances of money laundering or any illegal transactions," he emphasized.
To this end, as Kairat Kaliyev pointed out, a project for regulating the crypto assets market has been developed. "It is publicly available now. Everyone can view and give feedback. We hope that this summer AIFC's regulatory authority will approve these rules and they will start operating," he added.
In turn, Dastan Kozhabekov, Head of the Kazakhstan Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Association, told about the future role of the blockchain.
"With blockchain, we can imagine a world, in which contracts are digitalized and stored in transparently distributed databases, where they are protected from removal, falsification, and revision. In that world, every agreement, process, task, and payment will be digitally recorded and signed, and digital records and signatures will be recognized, validated, stored and distributed. There is no longer any need for intermediaries. Potentially, individual organizations, individuals, machines, algorithms can freely trade and interact with each other, with little or no effort," he said.