BitGo, a US-regulated crypto custodian, will safeguard belongings for Central Asia’s first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), which debuted Wednesday on the Astana International Exchange in Kazakhstan.
The Astana International Exchange (AIX), a inventory trade working throughout the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) framework, introduced the itemizing of the Fonte Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (BETF) on Wednesday.
Managed by AIFC-registered asset supervisor Fonte Capital, BETF gives oblique funding entry to Bitcoin (BTC) to a variety of buyers, together with retail members, AIX mentioned.
The BETF fund is bodily backed by Bitcoin held in custody of BitGo Trust, a US-based subsidiary of BitGo, which is thought for offering BTC custody to main US Bitcoin ETF issuers, together with ARK Invest and 21Shares.
US-regulated chilly storage for Kazakhstan
BitGo’s involvement in Fonte Capital-issued spot Bitcoin ETF marks the primary time for the platform to offer institutional-grade Bitcoin entry to buyers in Central Asia, the corporate mentioned in an announcement on X.
“Kazakhstan is getting into a brand new period for digital belongings,” the corporate mentioned, including that it’ll provide its custody providers by “safe, US-regulated chilly storage.”
While BitGo publicly acknowledged its position within the new spot Bitcoin ETF, neither Fonte Capital nor the Astana International Exchange talked about the custodian of their bulletins. Cointelegraph reached out to AIX, Fonte and BitGo for remark however had not obtained a response by publication.
BitGo’s position is a “double-edged sword”
The rising position of platforms like BitGo in spot Bitcoin merchandise worldwide is a double-edged sword, in response to Shady El Damaty, digital identification innovator and co-founder of human.tech by Holonym.
“On one hand, you’re getting institutional-grade custody proper out of the gate, which issues for investor confidence. On the opposite hand, it highlights how concentrated this layer of infrastructure nonetheless is,” he advised Cointelegraph.
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El Damaty highlighted the rising want for native crypto merchandise in growing markets, suggesting that counting on a single international participant isn’t a long-term answer, but it surely nonetheless will get merchandise like spot Bitcoin ETFs to market sooner.
“BitGo’s involvement provides Kazakhstan an prompt credibility increase,” he mentioned, including:
“Ideally, nations must be working towards constructing native custodians that meet the identical safety requirements. That approach, you’re not simply importing monetary infrastructure, you’re rising it at residence, giving the market each sovereignty and resilience.”
Bakhrom Saydulloev, an area crypto insider and product lead at Mercuryo, echoed El Damaty’s view, emphasizing that robust native custody is essential for the monetary sovereignty of jurisdictions like Kazakhstan.
“But proper now utilizing a confirmed international custodian is the quickest path to credibility and overseas capital inflows,” Saydulloev advised Cointelegraph.
Impact available on the market
Founded in 2017, AIX is backed by the AIFC, the Shanghai inventory trade, the Silk Road Fund and Nasdaq, dealing with round $130 million in month-to-month trades as of July 2025.
While AIX volumes are modest in contrast with giants like Nasdaq — which noticed $73 billion in European fairness trades final month — the BETF launch is important because it supplies regulated Bitcoin entry to buyers who’ve traditionally been excluded.
“Until now, there was no regulated, domestically listed product giving buyers publicity to it,” Saydulloev mentioned, stressing that Kazakhstan has emerged as a significant participant within the crypto trade, together with cryptocurrency mining.
“In areas the place conventional finance has left big gaps, instruments like this generally is a bridge, not only for buyers, however for on a regular basis individuals to start out collaborating within the digital economic system,” El Damaty mentioned.
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