After months of announcing its progress on the pilot of the digital tenge, Kazakhstan has a new regulator to monitor its CBDC rollout.
Kazakhstan’s journey with its own CBDC started way back in 2021. The digital tenge’s pilot project started back then. In February 2023, the National Bank of Kazakhstan announced the project’s progress, along with a report. It looked set for a CBDC rollout in a few years.
After months, a new initiative has emerged from the central bank. It has created a new government agency for monitoring the launch of the CBDC. The agency, named the National Payments Corporation, will look after and regulate sectors like money transfers, the national payment system, digital identification, and others.
The unit was formed after the Kazakhstan Center for Interbank Settlements (KISC) was reorganized. Apart from the CBDC rollout, it will also look into open banking projects.
“The reorganization of KISC into the National Payment Corporation will further improve the efficiency, security and reliability of the country’s payment infrastructure, as well as accelerate the pace of introduction of innovative products and digitalization of the financial sectors,” said a press release.
The digital tenge could be a reality by 2025 if the plan goes as scheduled. Meanwhile, it is currently in a controlled environment pilot phase. Actual merchants and consumers are participants in the project, along with crypto exchanges.
The National Bank of Kazakhstan has affirmed it has made sufficient changes to its structure after the reorganization of the KISC. The subsidiaries of the National Payments Corporation also saw amendments in their composition.