Official: Kazakhstan Launches Digital Tenge CBDC
16 Nov, 2023 ● Crypto News
Binur Zhalenov, the head of Kazakhstan's National Payment Corporation (NPC), has made the country's first transaction with the digital tenge, the country's new central bank digital currency (CBDC).
According to Kapital.kz, he paid during his speech at the XI Congress of Finance in Almaty on November 15 with a debit card linked to the CBDC account.
Today, Zhalenov announced the official launch of the digital tenge on Kazakhstan's retail sector, predicting a "massive platform's development" by 2024.
Kazakhstan partnered with Visa and Mastercard, as well as local banks, to integrate the CBDC into plastic cards, according to the official:
“It lets you pay with a digital tenge from anywhere in the world, using Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and other gadgets.”
Zhalenov has also emphasized the digital tenge's programmable potential, which may be applied to digital asset transactions, smart contracts, and cutting-edge financial services.
He stated that the development of the CBDC will concentrate on offline payments in 2024, and that the NPC anticipates using the digital tenge in cross-border trade by 2025.
The digital tenge's development began in February 2023, with a 2025 deployment window initially scheduled.
The NPC was founded in September with the goal of overseeing the creation and execution of the CBDC.
The quick launch of the CBDC has been accompanied by increased oversight of the cryptocurrency sector by Kazakh authorities.
Local media first reported on issues in September related to accessing Coinbase, Kraken, and other significant foreign cryptocurrency exchanges without a local license.
Cryptocurrency miners in the nation wrote President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev an open letter in October requesting a reduction in the recently imposed tax rates on mining operations.
Sources:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/kazakhstan-officially-launches-digital-tenge
