Tether said on Oct. 7 that it signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the Alatau city government to study stablecoin development, asset tokenization and decentralized finance, including a concept and pilot proposal for a stablecoin pegged to Kazakhstan’s national currency, the tenge.
Tenge stablecoin pilot is part of the study
According to Tether’s announcement, the three parties will review international stablecoin issuance models, define possible use cases and prepare a concept and pilot proposal for a tenge stablecoin.
The memorandum also covers the creation of an asset-tokenization framework in Kazakhstan, potentially using Hadron, Tether’s tokenization platform. The parties plan to identify priority asset classes, design tokenization models and roll out a pilot program within Alatau’s jurisdiction.
Workshops and training are also included
The cooperation will include a series of workshops, seminars and training courses covering global stablecoin and digital asset markets, issuance and reserve management models, and the tokenization of real-world assets through distributed ledger technology. The stated aim is to support training for personnel at Kazakhstan’s central bank and related government agencies.
Central bank says financial stability remains the priority
Tether Chief Executive Officer Paolo Ardoino said Kazakhstan is exploring asset tokenization and strategic reserve frameworks in a cautious and forward-looking manner.
Binur Zhalenov, deputy governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, said the central bank will study international practices in stablecoin issuance and real-world asset tokenization during the pilot process, while maintaining that “financial stability, transaction transparency and sound investor protection remain the central bank’s top priority.”
The announcement did not specify a timeline for the pilot and did not name an issuing entity for a tenge stablecoin.
Alatau is being developed as a fintech city
The Alatau city government is the state body responsible for public administration and regulatory development in the city. It operates under a special legal regime and aims to turn Alatau into a digital innovation and fintech hub in Central Asia.
According to Decrypt, Alatau is a smart city in the Almaty Region being built from scratch, with $7.2 billion in investment. Its population is planned to expand from 52,000 to 2 million. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev wants residents there to be able to use cryptocurrency to pay for goods and services.
Decrypt also reported that Kazakh officials said in September that the country’s crypto asset reserve had reached $700 million, with about $200 million already deployed, mostly through hedge funds. In March this year, the National Bank of Kazakhstan also allocated as much as $350 million from nearly $70 billion in gold and foreign exchange reserves for crypto-related investments.