Kazakhstan to issue tokenized government bonds in 2027

The plans were unveiled by National Bank Governor Timur Suleimenov and Madina Abylkassymova, Chairperson of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market, during the 14th Congress of Financiers of Kazakhstan in Almaty. The officials also discussed the development of the cryptocurrency industry, the introduction of payment banks, and plans to tokenize real-world assets.

Kazakhstan is among the first countries to establish a comprehensive legal framework for digital assets, covering cryptocurrency trading and the tokenization of real-world assets.

The regulatory framework came fully into force on May 1, 2026. Since then, the necessary registries and a national crypto custody service have been established through the Central Securities Depository, alongside the launch of the National Crypto Reserve.

The country also began licensing cryptocurrency exchanges in July. Eight licensed platforms are now operating in Kazakhstan, with a combined trading volume of 45 billion tenge.

Meanwhile, the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) is expanding its digital financial asset market. The first private tokenized bonds were issued on October 27, followed by the National Bank's first tokenized notes on November 9.

The next step is to extend tokenization to government bonds.

“These successful transactions have confirmed that our infrastructure and institutional framework are ready to support further expansion. Together with the Ministry of Finance, we plan to issue tokenized government bonds in the near future, most likely in the first quarter of 2027,” Suleimenov said.

According to Suleimenov, tokenization could eventually expand to real-world assets such as real estate, precious metals, and mineral resources. This would make it easier to turn various assets into financial instruments, broaden access to investment opportunities, and reduce the cost of raising capital.

The National Bank and the Government also plan to expand the use of the digital tenge, increasing its issuance to 2 trillion tenge.

The digital currency will primarily be used to support People's Construction, a nationwide initiative to modernize infrastructure across Kazakhstan's regions.

At the same time, Kazakhstan is opening up its financial sector to greater competition with the introduction of Category I payment organizations, known as payment banks.

These institutions now have direct access to the National Bank's settlement infrastructure, allowing them to compete with traditional banks in payment and money transfer services.

Kazakhstan's retail payments market is also evolving rapidly. In the first four months since the full launch of the unified QR payment system and phone number-based interbank transfers, consumers made around 75 million transactions worth a total of 1.4 trillion tenge.

The system now accounts for nearly 30% of retail interbank offline payments, while transaction fees for businesses have dropped by 40% over the past three years.

As new technologies reshape the financial sector, regulatory rules will also need to evolve.

According to Abylkassymova, the agency is developing a strategy for digitalization and artificial intelligence in the financial sector for 2027–2030, with 19 initiatives across five key areas.

The strategy focuses on building shared IT infrastructure and computing resources that smaller financial institutions can also access, expanding digital services such as agentic commerce, setting ethical standards for AI, strengthening cybersecurity, and improving digital supervision.

The regulator also plans to publish a discussion paper on the ethical use of AI and seek feedback from financial market participants.

The agency already uses more than 50 digital supervisory tools developed in-house, including the FinAI platform, the Complaints Factory system, and the Qainar cyber incident monitoring system.

These tools help the regulator detect potential risks in the financial market and take action before problems arise.

As reported earlier, Kazakhstan's National Bank revealed the first projects for digital tokenization.