Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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Kazakhstan’s central bank, Tether, and the Alatau City Authority have signed an exploratory memorandum of understanding.
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The partners will study a potential stablecoin pegged to the Kazakhstani tenge and prepare a pilot proposal.
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A separate initiative will identify assets suitable for tokenization and plan a pilot in Alatau.
Kazakhstan’s central bank has partnered with Tether and the Alatau City Authority to explore a tenge-pegged stablecoin and the tokenization of real-world assets.
The parties announced Wednesday that they signed a memorandum of understanding covering stablecoins, asset tokenization, and decentralized finance.
The agreement establishes a framework for research and potential pilots as Kazakhstan develops its digital-asset infrastructure. It does not authorize or confirm the launch of a new stablecoin.
Tenge Stablecoin Study Will Inform a Potential Pilot
One priority is assessing whether a stablecoin linked to the Kazakhstani tenge could serve useful roles in the country’s financial system.
The partners plan to examine comparable initiatives internationally, identify potential applications, and prepare a proposal for a pilot.
National Bank of Kazakhstan Deputy Governor Binur Zhalenov said the central bank intends to study international practices in stablecoin issuance and real-world asset tokenization as part of its pilot work.
The announcement did not specify an issuance date, reserve structure, or the entity that would issue a potential tenge token. Those questions remain part of the exploratory process.
The partnership will also identify categories of assets suitable for blockchain-based representation and plan a tokenization pilot in Alatau.
The city operates under a special legal regime designed partly to encourage financial technology development.
Tokenization can enable assets such as bonds or real estate interests to be represented digitally and transferred, traded, or used as collateral. The announcement did not identify which assets would be included in the proposed pilot.
Tether’s Hadron platform, which provides tools for issuing and managing tokenized assets, is among the technologies being considered.
Partnership Extends Tether’s Tokenization Ambitions
Tether is best known for issuing USDT, the largest U.S. dollar stablecoin. The supplied report puts its circulation at approximately $140 billion.
The company also issues XAUT, a tokenized gold product valued at roughly $3.3 billion and backed by physical bullion held in Swiss vaults.
Beyond those products, Tether has expanded into energy, payments, commodities, and tokenization infrastructure.
The Kazakhstan agreement adds another exploratory collaboration to that broader strategy, connecting its technology with public-sector efforts to assess digital financial services.
Tether and the Kazakh authorities will organize workshops for central bank employees and other government agencies.
The sessions will cover stablecoin reserves, issuance, and tokenization, supporting the research behind any proposed pilots.
For Kazakhstan, the partnership keeps the central bank directly involved in evaluating new digital-asset models. Its next steps will center on selecting potential use cases and developing pilot proposals before any issuance or deployment decision.
