Kazakhstan’s Central Bank Teams Up With Tether to Study a Tenge Stablecoin

The National Bank of Kazakhstan has signed a memorandum of understanding with Tether and the Alatau City Authority to look into stablecoins, asset tokenization and decentralized finance, the parties announced Wednesday. A main focus is a possible stablecoin pegged to the Kazakhstani tenge. The group will examine how similar tokens work in other countries, map out use cases and draft a proposal for a pilot. The deal is only exploratory and does not mean the stablecoin will be issued. NBK Deputy Governor Binur Zhalenov said the bank plans to study international best practices closely as it pilots tokenization projects.

Real-World Asset Tokenization Pilot in Alatau

Tokenization turns assets such as bonds or real estate into blockchain-based versions that can be moved, traded or used as collateral. The parties will decide which assets suit the process and plan a pilot in Alatau, a city under a special legal regime meant partly to attract fintech. Tether’s Hadron platform, which supports issuing and managing tokenized assets, is under consideration. Workshops on reserves, issuance and tokenization will also be held for central bank staff and other agencies.

Tether USDT and XAUT Expansion

Tether issues USDT, the largest dollar stablecoin at roughly $140 billion in circulation, along with XAUT, a tokenized gold product of about $3.3 billion backed by bullion in Swiss vaults. The company is also investing in energy, payments, commodities and tokenization infrastructure.