Uzbekistan is building what may be Central Asia’s most aggressive digital-asset location policy — from the tax-free Besqala mining zone to the stablecoin regime that took effect in January 2026. Companies looking to enter from Europe quickly run into an organisation that never appears on a crypto conference stage but helps organise regulatory access: EUROUZ, the officially recognised European business chamber in Tashkent.
The setting: a market hunting for capital
Uzbekistan has fundamentally rebuilt its digital-asset policy over the past eighteen months. On 17 April 2026, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed Resolution PQ-143 creating the “Besqala Mining Valley”; the resolution entered into force on 20 April. The zone is not an industrial park but a special regime covering the entire territory of the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan in the north-west of the country — close to 40 percent of Uzbekistan’s land area.
Resident miners are exempt from corporate income tax, property tax, land tax and VAT until 1 January 2035, paying instead a monthly fee of one percent of their mining revenue to a dedicated Besqala Mining Valley Directorate under Karakalpakstan’s Council of Ministers. On 8 July 2026 the Ministry of Justice approved the implementing regulation on the registration and operation of zone residents, drafted by the National Agency for Perspective Projects (NAPP).
Two conditions matter for foreign operators. Mining inside the zone does not require a licence, but it does require online registration and resident status — and only legal entities registered in Karakalpakstan are eligible. Applicants must also show a minimum charter capital of 5,000 base calculation units (around UZS 2.06 billion, roughly USD 170,000). Mined assets may be sold on domestic or foreign venues, but the proceeds have to flow back into Uzbek bank accounts.
Running in parallel, a new framework for stablecoins and tokenised securities has been in force since 1 January 2026. Uzbek resident companies may issue tokenised stocks and bonds, and licensed domestic exchanges are building a dedicated venue for their placement and trading. Stablecoin payments are permitted inside a controlled legal regime and regulatory sandbox run jointly by the NAPP and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, and are aimed at interbank settlement, corporate transactions and infrastructure-level flows rather than everyday retail payments. Crypto assets otherwise remain legally classified as property rather than legal tender — stablecoins are the first controlled exception.
Crypto-asset service providers sit under NAPP supervision, which licenses every category of provider. The price of market access is steep: an exchange licence reportedly costs roughly USD 1.98 million with monthly operating fees of about USD 19,940; a crypto depository licence around USD 188,600; a mining pool licence around USD 80,830. Foreign platforms without a local legal entity and licence may not serve Uzbek customers — in 2024 the NAPP moved against Binance, among others.
For international providers the message is clear: the market is open, but only through a local structure, a local licence or registration, and a working line to the authorities. That is precisely where institutional representation becomes relevant.
Who EUROUZ is
The Europe-Uzbekistan Association for Economic Cooperation (EUROUZ) is the officially recognised European Business Organisation (EBO) for Uzbekistan, incorporated as an international non-profit association under Belgian law (AISBL; the association itself uses the spelling IASBL), headquartered in the Brussels EU Quarter with a branch office in Tashkent. It states that it unites more than 150 companies across a wide range of sectors. It is listed in the EU Transparency Register under ID 970353848012-07.
Its mandate is explicitly two-way: EUROUZ supports European companies entering the Uzbek market and Uzbek companies expanding into Europe. Its service lines cover market entry and strategic expansion, advocacy and government relations, visibility through its own publications and channels, senior-level networking, and business facilitation across B2B, B2G and B2C.
The real lever: the committees
The most interesting instrument for digital-asset companies is the committee structure. EUROUZ currently runs committees on ESG; Healthcare & Life Sciences; Human Resources & Capacity Building; Corporate Governance & Compliance; Public Relations & Strategic Communications; Intellectual Property & Competition; and Industry, Energy & Infrastructure — plus an Executive & Diplomatic Leaders Club.
For the crypto and fintech sector, the relevant body is the Banking, Regulation & Economic Affairs Committee (BREA-C) — described by EUROUZ as a specialised platform for members committed to advancing Uzbekistan’s banking and financial sector while pushing for a robust, transparent and modern regulatory environment. EUROUZ does not publicly list a dedicated digital-asset or blockchain committee; anyone wanting to raise VASP licensing, stablecoin compliance or energy access for mining operations does so through the banking and regulation committee or the industry, energy and infrastructure committee.
The committees operate under documented general rules and meeting-access rules published on the association’s website. The stated purpose: develop consolidated industry recommendations and enter structured dialogue with regulators, ministries and other stakeholders.
Membership: eligibility and process
Applicants must be companies with a registered legal entity in at least one of the following jurisdictions: Uzbekistan, the EU, the UK or Switzerland. For crypto companies based in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai or the United States, this means in practice: no European or Uzbek entity, no access — which aligns with the NAPP’s own requirement for a local legal form.
The process runs in three steps: determine the membership tier based on company size and jurisdiction, choose between the “Essential” and “Premium” packages, then apply online. An introductory call can be booked through a public scheduling link.
Assessment
EUROUZ is neither a regulator nor a licensing authority — licences are issued solely by the NAPP. It is a membership-funded advocacy body, and its effectiveness depends on how broadly an issue is backed within the membership. For the crypto sector, the value therefore lies less in the licensing procedure itself than in what precedes it: reliable market intelligence, access to ministries and the central bank environment through established formats, and a channel for raising regulatory friction points collectively rather than one company at a time.
Given licence fees in the millions, a strict localisation requirement and a supervisor with a demonstrated willingness to act against major international platforms, that may well be the difference between a predictable market entry and an expensive one.
Primary source
Europe-Uzbekistan Association for Economic Cooperation (EUROUZ)
- Website
- Contact page
- Committees (incl. Banking, Regulation & Economic Affairs Committee)
- Membership FAQs
- Membership — online application
- Membership tiers
- Members directory
- Publications / Uzbekistan Profile 2025
- Press releases
- Information portal “The Uzbek Review”
Contacts and addresses
Headquarters (Europe) Europe-Uzbekistan Association (EUROUZ) IASBL 2–4 Schuman Roundabout, Levels 5 & 6, EU Quarter 1040 Brussels, Belgium Phone: +32 2 403 36 86
Uzbekistan branch office International Trade Centre (ITC), 3rd floor 107 Amir Temur Street 100084 Tashkent, Uzbekistan Phone: +998 95 478 04 04
Getting in touch
Press and media enquiries go through the contact form; no named individual contacts are published on the website.
Registration: EU Transparency Register ID 970353848012-07 Legal form: AISBL/IASBL under Belgian law
Social media
Additional sources used
- Besqala Mining Valley / Resolution PQ-143 — The Block
- Resident requirements and charter capital — Gazeta.uz
- Implementing regulation, July 2026 — Crypto Briefing
- Energy and supervision context — The Diplomat
- Stablecoin and tokenisation regime from 01.01.2026 — The Paypers
- NAPP licence categories and fees — Lexology
- Enforcement practice against foreign providers — CryptoGuide.uz