National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) Starts Digital Tenge Pilot Project

• The report was introduced by NBK Deputy Governor Berik Sholpankupov.
• The completion date of the project is slated for 2025.

According to a report released by the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) and Binance on February 3, the NBK has begun testing a digital tenge pilot project. Central Asia and the Commonwealth of Independent States were the focus of this research as it examined worldwide approaches to digital asset legislation, the digital asset market, and decentralized finance (DeFi).

The report was introduced by NBK Deputy Governor Berik Sholpankupov. Who discussed the bank’s hopes for a partnership between Traditional Finance and DeFi. To promote greater financial inclusion and facilitate international commerce.

The report also stated:

“A Digital Tenge CDBC initiative […] Is already in a pilot phase using the controlled environment, real consumers and merchants. Currently, BNB Chain and NBK are testing CBDC integration with the [BNB] public decentralised blockchain to bridge the gap even further between traditional banking and crypto ecosystem.”

On Track With Roadmap

Moreover, the remark by Sholpankupov verified that the NBK is on track with its declared roadmap. In 2020, Kazakhstan planned to launch a digital version of the tenge currency. The completion date of the project is slated for 2025.

Furthermore, Binance received a permanent license in October 2022 from the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) of Kazakhstan to operate a digital asset platform and provide custody services. Later that same month, the NBK announced that it will merge its CBDC onto the Binance BNB chain.

On January 27th, ASFA released a consultation document discussing the problems with the 2018 Digital Asset Trading Facility (DATF) regulatory framework established by the Astana International Financial Centre. Moreover, additional risk reduction strategies and other modifications to the regulatory framework were proposed in that assessment.