Blockchain technologies in securing electronic payments and preventing internet fraud: international legal standards and prospects for implementation in the Republic of Kazakhstan

Abstract

This article examines the issues of securing electronic payments and preventing internet fraud amid the rapid growth of cashless transactions in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The aim of the study is to determine what distributed ledgers and smart contracts can contribute to the security of electronic payments and to the fight against internet fraud, and to propose a model for bringing international standards into Kazakhstani law. Based on enforcement statistics, the paper highlights low crime clearance rates and high risks associated with unregistered cryptocurrency transactions. The authors analyze the technological potential of distributed ledgers, consensus algorithms, and smart contracts for preventing cybercrimes and enabling real-time end-to-end transaction tracing. Key legal obstacles to blockchain adoption are identified, including normative dualism between national law and the Astana International Financial Centre regime, the lack of procedural tools for seizing digital assets, and conflicts between blockchain immutability and data protection standards. Drawing on international standards from FATF, UNCITRAL, the Budapest and UN Cybercrime Conventions, as well as EU MiCA regulation, a three-tier implementation framework is justified. This model encompasses accession to universal treaties, legal harmonisation within the EAEU, and domestic legislative reform. Specific de lege ferenda proposals are formulated to amend Kazakhstani payment, digital asset, criminal, and criminal procedure legislation, aimed at strengthening financial security and transaction transparency. The contribution of the study to legal scholarship is to treat the distributed ledger as a distinct object of public-law and procedural regulation, rather than as a technical tool or a speculative asset, governed by the principles of technology neutrality and functional equivalence.