ITS Opens Four Event Contracts in Kazakhstan Sandbox
The contracts went live on September 8. ITS published details of the launch on September 11. Prices can move between $0.01 and $0.99 before each contract settles at either $1 or zero.
Two of the first markets concern prices. One is based on Bitcoin and another on SpaceX shares. The other two use interest-rate thresholds.
For Kazakhstan, the question is whether the base rate will be above 16.75%. The US contract uses 3.75% as the threshold for the upper end of the Federal Reserve target range.
That US threshold has since been crossed. The Fed decided on September 16 to raise its target range to 3.75%-4.00%, effective September 17.
More contracts are expected later.
First Test Is Limited to Finance
ITS is running the product through the Astana Financial Services Authority's FinTech Lab. The permitted subjects are relatively narrow. AFSA lists securities, approved digital assets, commodities, exchange rates and interest rates among the areas that can be used for event contracts.
Economic releases are another option. Inflation, employment and GDP data are named in the framework.
Several other event types cannot be used in the current test. That includes sports and political events. Weather, entertainment and celebrity events are also outside the permitted scope.
ITS therefore starts without the sports and election contracts seen on some prediction-market platforms.
Access Comes With Client Limits
Not every ITS user can trade the new contracts. AFSA allows access for professional clients and certain semi-professional clients. An appropriateness assessment is required, and individuals must be at least 21.
There is no margin trading. Positions have to be fully collateralised, so traders cannot use leverage to increase exposure.
The regulator can also change the conditions of the experiment or restrict individual contracts while the test is running. AFSA said it will look at transactions, contract specifications and the clients taking part.
International Trading System Limited already appears in the AFSA register under licence AFSA-A-LA-2023-0006. The entry covers its multilateral trading facility and money-services activities. Event contracts are being tested separately through FinTech Lab.
ITS Brings Existing Trading Scale to the Test
ITS reported more than $14 billion in trading volume in 2025. It also said more than 1.2 million investors had access to the platform through 23 participating institutions in seven countries.
The launch gives Kazakhstan a regulated test of event-based trading without opening the categories that most directly overlap with betting. It also puts a securities-market operator at the centre of the experiment.