Kazakhstan officially introduces digital currency

The latest news indicates that Kazakhstan has become the next country to officially introduce the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). On November 15, the chairman of the National Payment Corporation of Kazakhstan, Binurs Zhalenovs, made the first transaction with the country’s new digital currency – the digital tenge.

Kazakhstan’s local news outlet Kapital.kz reports that Zhalenov demonstrated how to make a payment for this digital currency during his announcement. He paid with a debit card linked to a digital currency account. Zhalenov also promised that “massive development of the digital tenge platform” is expected next year. He explained that in 2024 the focus will be on offline payments, while in 2025 – on cross-border payments.

In order to be able to make payments in digital currency using a payment card, Kazakhstan cooperated with “Visa” and “Mastercard”, as well as local banks. In this way, it is also possible to make payments from anywhere in the world using “Apple Pay”, “Samsung Pay” and other digital payment solutions.