Timur Turlov: Why the digital asset market needs unified regulation
According to Freedom Holding Corp. CEO Timur Turlov, digital assets have already become a regular part of the market. For this reason, he says, regulation must be transparent and unified, allowing clients to use them safely and intuitively.
Speaking at the Congress of Financiers of Kazakhstan, the businessman noted that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission held a similar stance during the early stages of the crypto market’s development.
«We are neither for nor against digital assets. Digital assets seem to be just another type of asset among many others,» Turlov said, referring to the U.S. regulator’s approach.
Turlov emphasized that all financial instruments — whether debt, equity or currency — remain instruments regardless of their form. They can be issued on paper or stored in centralized or decentralized registries, but in every case, they must comply with the law.
«You can’t radically alter the essence of this process by changing the form,» he added.
He also warned about the risks of «regulatory arbitrage,» a situation in which essentially identical instruments fall under fundamentally different regulatory regimes. In such cases, the industry will inevitably look for workarounds or even change jurisdictions.
«The industry will adjust to any rules of the game, no matter how absurd they are,» Turlov said.
Because of this, he believes it is important for regulation to gradually become more unified and clearer for the market. According to him, legislation in the region is evolving, creating a clearer legal framework suitable for building «reliable and easy-to-use products.»
Turlov also addressed the belief that digital assets provide advantages in settlement speed, noting that the traditional financial system has long been capable of instant cross-border transactions. The main challenges, he said, are typically related to regulation rather than technology.
As an example, he pointed to local payments made via phone numbers, which are fast and significantly cheaper than most blockchain transactions. This is why, he said, any centralized database «will always be cheaper and faster than a decentralized one.»
At the same time, Turlov believes it is important to make digital assets as accessible to clients as gold, currency or traditional securities.
«These assets must find their way onto the digital banks’ showcase. We must deliver this in the right way to make them easy to use and safe for clients,» he said.
According to Turlov, the key task is to provide clients with access to new instruments while maintaining transparency, security and proper regulation, so that their use is truly beneficial and does not create risks.
Freedom Holding Corp. is a leading brokerage and investment holding company in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The holding’s CEO and majority shareholder is businessman Timur Turlov, whose net worth is estimated at $5.8 billion by Forbes Kazakhstan, making him the second-richest citizen of Kazakhstan.
In Kazakhstan, the company offers brokerage services under the brands Freedom Broker (Freedom Finance JSC, a KASE member) and Freedom Finance Global (an AIX member). Other Freedom Holding Corp. subsidiaries in the country include Freedom Bank, Freedom Insurance and Freedom Life. The holding also owns Freedom Travel, an airline ticketing service, and Freedom Ticketon, an online ticket marketplace for concerts, movies and cultural events.
In the 2025 fiscal year (April 2024 to March 2025), Freedom Holding Corp. reported $2.1 billion in revenue, a 23% increase year-on-year (YoY). Net profit amounted to $84.5 million, while total assets grew from $8.3 billion to $9.9 billion (+19% YoY).
