Kazakhstan’s AIFC regulator says it will serve Apple and Google injunctions targeting crypto platforms

Kazakhstan’s Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) regulator says it will take a more targeted route to enforce court injunctions against cryptocurrency platforms, shifting its approach from seeking direct orders to serving the injunctions on major app ecosystem operators including Apple and Google.

In a report citing the regulator’s position, the AIFC authority said a court declined to compel Apple and Google directly. Instead, the regulator indicated it intends to serve Apple and Google with the injunctions it previously won against several crypto firms and services operating without the required authorization.

The injunctions referenced in the report include actions against Coinbase and HTX, alongside four other platforms described as unlicensed. The regulator’s goal is to translate those legal orders into practical restrictions inside app marketplaces and related distribution channels that affect user access.

For Apple and Google, the development matters because the companies control key gateways for consumers, including app availability and distribution. Even where a dispute centers on the underlying crypto service providers, regulators often look to gatekeepers to ensure users cannot easily reach products operating outside local rules.

The report frames the AIFC regulator’s decision as part of a broader enforcement effort aimed at jurisdictions within the AIFC’s legal framework in Astana. The AIFC has marketed itself as an international financial center with its own regulatory and legal environment, and regulators there have increasingly pursued formal actions against financial services and platforms that lack authorization.

Alphabet, which oversees Google, is named in the regulator’s plan through Google’s role as the operator of the Google Play ecosystem. Apple is similarly implicated through its control of the iOS app distribution channel, which regulators may seek to use when enforcement against individual apps is not sufficient by itself.

The practical question raised by the regulator’s statement is how quickly, and in what form, app-store enforcement could follow service of the injunctions. Injunction delivery does not automatically translate into take-downs, and the report does not detail any specific timeline or enforcement mechanism Apple and Google would use once notified.

The information available in the published account does not include filings, injunction case numbers, or the exact legal language used in the court orders. It also does not say whether the regulator expects Apple and Google to act immediately, whether the parties will contest service, or whether any limits apply to what app stores can do under their own policies and local legal obligations.

AIFC’s next move, according to the report, will be to ensure that major distribution platforms receive the injunctions already granted. What to watch is whether Apple and Google acknowledge receipt, whether app listings for the named services change, and whether additional court steps follow if platforms do not comply voluntarily. The dispute also indicates that regulators may increasingly attempt to convert blockchain-sector enforcement into app-level access restrictions rather than relying solely on direct action against service operators.