NUR-SULTAN – The National Bank of Kazakhstan announced plans to launch a pilot project focused on digital tenge, the organization’s press service reported May 5.
“A national digital currency is a promising asset and an obligation of the National Bank of Kazakhstan and will be represented in digital form. The digital tenge will be a legal tender, a measure of economic value and a store of value. A two-tier architecture is assumed to implement the platform, where financial market participants will provide payment services, and the National Bank will provide the infrastructure,” reads the release.
The bank will study the benefits and risks and define the tasks solved by the digital currency, the method of its creation and distribution, the technology used, the impact on monetary policy, financial stability and the payment ecosystem.
The bank plans to carry out this work jointly with financial market participants, the expert community and international partners.
Based on the results of this work, the bank will decide on the need to introduce digital tenge with the requirements for technological infrastructure and regulation of issues related to the national digital currency, as well as consumer protection.
The National Bank also released a research report for public discussion. It says that Kazakhstan joined the list of countries involved in the study of digital currencies. The bank announced the start of a research project on the implementation of digital currency in November of 2020.
The most common reasons for issuing a digital currency are increasing the availability of financial services, improving the efficiency of payments, and developing cross-border payment systems.
