Tether has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) and the Alatau City Authority (ACA) to explore opportunities in stablecoin development, asset tokenisation, and DeFi.
Under the MoU, the institutions will work together to develop infrastructure to support digital finance in Kazakhstan, including studying international models for stablecoin issuance, defining potential use cases, and preparing a concept and pilot proposal for a stablecoin pegged to the tenge, Kazakhstan’s national currency.
The agreement also outlines a framework for asset tokenisation, including the possible use of Tether’s tokenisation platform Hadron.
The parties intend to identify priority asset categories, design a conceptual tokenisation model, and launch a pilot within the city of Alatau’s jurisdiction.
Tether, the NBK, and the ACA will run a range of training programmes covering the international stablecoin and digital asset market, issuance and reserve management models, and the tokenisation of real-world assets (RWAs) using distributed ledger technology, in addition to supporting the development of NBK specialists and relevant government agencies.
Commenting on the initiative, Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, says: “The use cases for digital assets are evolving into real-life applications and, ultimately, into sovereign-level financial infrastructure.
“Kazakhstan is taking a deliberate, forward-looking approach by exploring asset tokenisation and a strategic reserve framework.”
Binur Zhalenov, deputy governor of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan, adds: “Collaboration with international technology leaders unlocks new opportunities for developing the digital infrastructure of Kazakhstan’s financial sector.
“As part of piloting tokenisation projects, we intend to thoroughly study international best practices in stablecoin issuance and RWA tokenisation.”
Image: Evgeny/stock.adobe.com 