 
 
Kazakhstan may soon join a growing list of nations around the world investing national reserves into crypto.
Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has pushed for the quick creation of a “full-fledged” digital asset ecosystem, including a state-administered crypto reserve as part of efforts to “find effective ways to maximize the return of bank money to the economy.”
The reserve, managed by the National Bank’s investment arm, would accumulate crypto assets deemed vital to the emerging digital financial system, according to Tokayev.
“Given the demands of the modern era, it is necessary to focus on cryptoassets. It is advisable to create a State Fund of Digital Assets on the basis of the National Bank’s Investment Corporation,” Tokayev said in an annual address on Monday. “This structure will accumulate a strategic crypto reserve consisting of promising assets in the new digital financial system.”
The president urged the country’s Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market to finalize and pass new legislation that would liberalize digital asset markets, bolster fintech innovation, and open the financial sector to new competitors by 2026.
 
Tokayev’s announcement came roughly two months after reports indicated that Kazakhstan’s national bank was mulling establishing a national crypto reserve funded by confiscated digital assets.
The move would follow a trend of countries around the world further embracing digital assets in one way or another. President Donald Trump’s decision to create a Strategic Bitcoin reserve may have been the highest-profile example of adoption at the state level, but even smaller nation-states like the Royal Government of Bhutan also hold crypto.
Nations and prominent, traditional financial institutions scooping up crypto assets, particularly Bitcoin, bode well for the market and have boosted prices owing to an increase in demand. Bitcoin set a new all-time high of $124,128 in August.
Kazakhstan’s CryptoCity Plans?
President Tokayev revealed in May that his government is planning to set up a pilot zone in which crypto could be used to pay for goods and services. Reports at the time suggested that the planned crypto-powered smart city would be created in the city of Alatau.
He reiterated these reports on Monday in his speech, saying Alatau would become “the first fully digitalized city in the region,” using cryptocurrency payments.
“This city will represent the future of Kazakhstan,” quipped Tokayev. “It should introduce everything from the use of Smart City technologies to paying for goods and services with cryptocurrency. It should combine technological progress and the most favorable living conditions.”