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Kazakhstan central bank reviews digital tenge pilot successes, next steps

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The digital tenge, Kazakhstan’s central financial institution digital foreign money (CBDC), has been declared a hit after a month-long pilot mission. A number of enterprise, regulatory and technical enhancements are lined up for it in 2024.

Throughout its pilot run, the digital tenge was used to supply schoolchildren with free lunches in Almaty by means of the native Onay! card, which was initially designed to be used within the transit system. The Kazpost postal system operator served because the middleman for these transactions.

Plastic playing cards have been issued to members of focus teams by 4 native banks together with Visa and Mastercard. The playing cards allowed customers to make purchases in individual or on-line and to withdraw money from ATMs. The collaborating service provider had the choice of accepting digital tenge or changing them to “non-cash” tenge.

A digital tenge card. Supply: Islam Yerzhan, LinkedIn

By changing digital tenge, they have been built-in into current point-of-sale and QR programs. The playing cards have been practical all through and out of doors of Kazakhstan. The report claimed this stage of interoperability was a primary for a CBDC.

Different experiments carried out with the digital tenge included making cross-border funds through SWIFT and issuance of CBDC-backed stablecoins on Binance and KASE platforms. Digital tenge have been used for tokenizing gold, value-added tax was collected utilizing a wise contract and a move-to-earn app was trialed.

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The Nationwide Financial institution of Kazakhstan and the Nationwide Cost Company of Kazakhstan (NPCK), a physique established in September to manage the nationwide CBDC, have an extended record of targets for 2024. They embody rising the variety of middleman banks and additional creating decentralized finance purposes.

The companies hope to hold out offline transactions at scale, which might dramatically enhance monetary inclusion within the nation, since web connectivity is proscribed in some areas. They may also enhance participation in cross-border cost tasks. Kazakhstan is an observer in Challenge mBridge. Additionally they have regulatory and legislative targets that have to be applied concurrently, they usually hope to extend digital tenge safety and processing pace.

NPCK CEO Binur Zhalenov gave assurances in an interview aired on the eve of the report’s launch that the digital tenge wouldn’t be used for surveillance of customers.

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