AFSA digital asset permission extends Pyypl Kazakhstan’s existing license and creates a regulated base for developing new cross-border payment, settlement and liquidity capabilities
Pyypl Kazakhstan Ltd. has activated permission from the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA), within the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), to Provide Money Services in relation to Digital Assets.
The permission was issued on Apr 23, 2026 and extends Pyypl Kazakhstan’s existing license to provide money services and strengthens the company’s regulated presence in a market that is becoming increasingly relevant to the development of digital financial infrastructure.
For Pyypl, the significance goes beyond digital assets themselves.
The company sees digital assets as part of the infrastructure that can make cross-border payments and settlement more efficient, particularly when connecting markets where traditional payment flows can involve multiple intermediaries, currencies and pre-funded accounts.
The AFSA permission provides Pyypl with another regulated environment from which it can develop these capabilities, subject to applicable regulatory requirements, license conditions and individual market approvals.
Extending Pyypl’s regulated footprint
For a cross-border payments company, regulatory expansion is not simply a corporate milestone. It determines where services can be developed, which partners can be connected and how money and liquidity can move between markets.
Pyypl operates across multiple regulatory environments, including frameworks overseen by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) in Abu Dhabi and the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB).
The addition of Kazakhstan strengthens this international footprint and provides another regulated base for Pyypl’s wider cross-border strategy.
Within the scope approved by AFSA, Pyypl Kazakhstan can develop regulated money services that make use of digital asset infrastructure, creating the foundation for new payment corridors, settlement models and liquidity capabilities as the business progresses.
The objective is not to introduce digital assets as a standalone proposition, but to use the underlying infrastructure where it can make the movement of money between markets more efficient.
Why Kazakhstan and the AIFC
Cross-border payments remain fragmented across many of the markets Pyypl serves.
Individuals need to move money internationally. Businesses need to pay suppliers, contractors and teams across multiple jurisdictions. Financial institutions and payment companies need reliable ways to manage settlement and liquidity between markets.
Behind what appears to the customer as a simple international transfer, however, there can still be several intermediaries, currencies, settlement relationships and operational processes.
This can increase cost, extend settlement times and require capital to be held in advance across multiple accounts and jurisdictions.
Pyypl is building a regulated cross-border infrastructure layer designed to reduce some of this complexity by connecting traditional payment rails with digital asset liquidity and regulated financial services.
The AIFC provides an important environment for developing this model.
Its regulatory framework creates a defined structure within which companies can develop financial services involving both traditional and digital financial infrastructure, while remaining subject to regulatory oversight, governance requirements and operating limits.
For Pyypl, this creates an opportunity to develop technology and infrastructure locally while maintaining consistent standards for compliance, risk management and governance across its wider regulated network.
Digital assets as infrastructure
Pyypl’s approach to digital assets is deliberately practical.
Rather than treating digital assets as the destination, the company sees them as one of several technologies that can improve how value moves behind the scenes.
Where permitted and appropriately structured, digital asset liquidity can potentially reduce settlement friction, improve the movement of liquidity between markets and create more efficient connections between different payment systems.
The customer or partner does not necessarily need to interact with that complexity.
What they ultimately experience may simply be a faster transfer, access to a new corridor, improved liquidity or a more efficient settlement process.
The infrastructure underneath is what makes that experience possible.
“For us, digital assets are not the end product. They are part of the infrastructure that can make cross-border payments faster, more liquid and more efficient,” said Muhamad Masri, CEO of Pyypl.
“Activating this permission in Kazakhstan gives us another regulated environment in which to build that infrastructure responsibly and connect it with the payment capabilities we are developing across our wider network. The objective is ultimately very simple: make moving value between markets easier, while ensuring that the regulatory, compliance and governance foundations are built properly from the beginning.”
From regulatory permission to practical capability
A license does not improve a payment on its own. Its value is in what it allows a regulated provider to build.
With the AFSA permission active, Pyypl Kazakhstan has a regulatory foundation from which it can progressively develop services intended to improve settlement efficiency, expand access to payment corridors and support more flexible liquidity management.
These capabilities will be introduced progressively and in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements, licence conditions, partner readiness and customer demand.
Kazakhstan also adds another component to Pyypl’s broader international operating model.
Rather than building isolated products in individual markets, Pyypl’s longer-term strategy is to connect regulated entities, payment infrastructure, traditional financial rails and digital asset liquidity into a wider cross-border ecosystem.
Different markets may require different licenses, partners and infrastructure, but the underlying objective remains the same: making the movement of value across borders simpler and more efficient.
As Pyypl continues expanding its regulated footprint, Kazakhstan becomes another building block in that network and another market from which the company can develop the infrastructure behind the next generation of cross-border payments
