Since 2018, $20 billion has been attracted into Kazakhstan’s economy through the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). In 2025 alone, platform participants attracted $6 billion: $4 billion in portfolio investments and $2 billion in investments by AIFC participants. This is $2.9 billion more than in 2024, the AIFC press service reports.
“2025 became a year of strengthening trust for the AIFC. The volume of investments attracted into the economy increased over the year, and the number of participant companies grew significantly, including those providing financial services. The Centre actively introduced innovative instruments and products – from aviation finance to spot Bitcoin listing, an index Islamic ETF, and the world’s first spot ETF with staking capability. These results form a solid foundation for further attraction of international and domestic capital into the country’s economy, development of the financial market, and strengthening Kazakhstan’s position in the regional financial ecosystem,” said Renat Bekturov, Governor of the Astana International Financial Centre.
The AIFC summed up its performance for 2025 and published key indicators and results:
From January to December, more than 1,400 new companies joined the AIFC, which is 300 more than last year. Among new companies, 33% are financial. Information and communications account for 12%, professional, scientific, and technical activities for 14%, mining for 2%, auxiliary service providers for 2%, wholesale and retail trade companies for 17%, while the remaining 20% are represented by other non-financial sectors. In total, more than 4,900 companies from over 90 countries are registered at the AIFC, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Turkey, Singapore, the UAE, and others. Of these, more than 1,500 provide financial and insurance services.
Taxes
Over three quarters, AIFC participants paid KZT 72.8 billion in taxes to Kazakhstan’s budget, which is 76% more than in the same period last year. Over the entire period of the Centre’s operation, KZT 221.2 billion has been paid (as of October 1, 2025).
In 2025, the AIX exchange crossed several important milestones, including a trading turnover of $2 billion and 200 new listings since the beginning of the year. In 2024, these indicators stood at $1.3 billion and 140 listings, respectively.
The volume of transactions by digital asset service providers over three quarters of 2025 amounted to $6.8 billion, while the number of clients reached 192.4 thousand. For comparison, in 2024 the volume was $2.9 billion, and the total number of clients was 141.5 thousand.
The number of investment funds at the AIFC increased from 101 at the beginning of the year to 159, while the number of asset managers grew from 57 to 68. Total assets under management (AUM) at the AIFC exceeded $3 billion as of the end of the third quarter of 2025.
In 2025, the AIFC Court and the International Arbitration Centre enforced 1,282 cases, including 76 court judgments, 303 arbitration cases, and 903 mediation cases. In comparison, more than 1,011 cases were considered last year.
A new Aviation Finance Hub was launched to develop the aviation finance ecosystem, including financing and leasing of commercial and cargo aircraft and support for aviation projects.
The AIFC established an international Islamic Finance Council with experts from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Malaysia, Turkiye, and Kazakhstan.
In September 2025, the AIFC regulator AFSA announced the launch of a pilot project to accept regulatory payments in stablecoins. The first payment under the new mechanism was made in October. AFSA also issued, for the first time, a license for the issuance of fiat-backed stablecoins.
“Over the entire period of AIX’s operation, the volume of capital raised amounted to $473 million through equity instruments and $10.5 billion through debt instruments. In 2025, 13 companies became new trading members of AIX, bringing the total to 64. The number of retail investor accounts opened through market participants reached 2.3 million, compared to 1.9 million last year. The AIX Qazaq Index has grown by 1.7% since the beginning of the year,” the AIFC reported.
