Stablecoin Regulation in Kazakhstan: The Complete 2026 Guide
Kazakhstan became Central Asia’s most active jurisdiction for stablecoin regulation in 2026. A new legal framework in force from 1 May 2026 formally recognises fiat-backed stablecoins as a distinct class of regulated financial instrument, establishes licensing and registration requirements for platform operators, and sets the foundations for stablecoin-based payments, cross-border transfers and tokenized real-world assets.
This guide covers what the framework requires, what is already live in the market, and what custody and wallet infrastructure stablecoin operators and licensed exchanges need to meet regulatory expectations.
What Is a Stablecoin Under Kazakhstan Law?
Unsecured digital assets vs. digital financial assets
Kazakhstan’s Law on Digital Assets, amended in January 2026 and in force from 1 May 2026, draws a clear line between two categories.
Unsecured digital assets are cryptocurrencies not backed by any underlying asset or claim. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the primary examples. These circulate through licensed exchange operators and are regulated separately from stablecoins.
Digital financial assets (DFAs) are a distinct legal category introduced by the 2026 amendments. DFAs are backed by an underlying asset or right. Stablecoins (specifically fiat-backed stablecoins) fall within this category.
The distinction matters for operators. The regulatory requirements, licensing routes, and supervisory authorities differ depending on which type of asset the business is working with.
The three DFA categories
Kazakhstan law recognises three types of digital financial asset:
- Fiat-backed stablecoins: digital assets certifying a right to claim money, pegged to a national currency or other fiat reference.
- Asset-backed tokens: digital assets backed by underlying real or tangible assets and financial instruments, real estates, or commodities.
- Digital financial instruments: digital forms of traditional financial instruments such as bonds or shares, issued in tokenized form.
Each category carries different regulatory treatment. This guide focuses on the first: fiat-backed stablecoins.
Kazakhstan’s Regulatory Framework for Stablecoins (2026)
National Bank of Kazakhstan
The National Bank of Kazakhstan oversees the issuance and circulation of fiat-backed stablecoins at the national level. It also licenses and supervises digital asset service providers operating outside the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC).
For stablecoin issuers operating under the national framework, the National Bank is the primary regulator. It also operates the Digital Assets Regulatory Sandbox, through which new stablecoin and tokenization products can be tested before full commercial deployment.
The National Bank launched the sandbox in June 2025. As of September 2026, it includes 34 projects across 14 areas, among them stablecoins, tokenization, cryptocurrency exchanges, custody arrangements, and crypto-to-fiat gateways.
AFSA and the AIFC Stablecoin Framework
Within the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) is the independent financial regulator. AFSA introduced a dedicated Stablecoin Framework in January 2024.
Under this framework, AFSA can license firms to carry out the regulated activity of Providing Money Services in relation to Digital Assets as an Issuer of a Fiat Stablecoin. In June 2025, AFSA granted its first fiat-backed stablecoin issuer licence to AnchorX.KZ Limited, the first of its kind in the region.
AFSA also maintains an approved list of digital assets eligible for trading on licensed AIFC platforms. USDT and USDC appear on the AFSA Green List and trade on licensed AIFC exchanges including Binance Kazakhstan and Bybit Kazakhstan.
Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM)
The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) supervises the circulation of digital financial assets other than fiat-backed stablecoins. This means ARDFM has jurisdiction over asset-backed tokens and digital financial instruments, not stablecoin issuance itself.
For operators whose products span multiple DFA categories (for example, a platform issuing both stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets), both the National Bank and ARDFM may be relevant regulators depending on the specific activity.
Regulatory authority summary:
| Activity | Primary regulator |
| Fiat-backed stablecoin issuance (national framework) | National Bank of Kazakhstan |
| Fiat-backed stablecoin issuance (AIFC) | AFSA |
| DFA circulation (asset-backed tokens, digital financial instruments) | ARDFM |
| DFA platform operator registration | National Bank |
| Digital asset exchange licensing (national) | National Bank |
| Digital asset activities within the AIFC | AFSA |
What’s Already Live: Stablecoin Pilots and Market Activity
Evo (KZTE): the tenge-backed stablecoin
In September 2025, the National Bank launched a pilot project to issue the first tenge-denominated stablecoin within its regulatory sandbox. The stablecoin, Evo (KZTE), was issued by Intebix, an AIFC-registered digital asset exchange, in partnership with Solana, Mastercard, and Eurasian Bank.
Evo operates on the Solana blockchain and maintains a 1:1 peg to the Kazakhstani tenge. Its stated purpose is to connect cryptocurrency activity with traditional payment infrastructure, enabling crypto-to-tenge conversion and supporting crypto card payments.
The pilot is part of the National Bank’s broader strategy to build a national digital finance infrastructure that links licensed crypto platforms to the banking sector.
AFSA accepts regulatory fees in USDT and USDC
In September 2025, AFSA launched a pilot allowing AIFC participants and applicants to pay regulatory fees in USD-pegged stablecoins, specifically USDT and USDC. Bybit was the first signatory to the related multilateral memorandum of understanding.
In October 2025, SkyBridge Digital Finance Ltd. made the first regulatory fee payment in stablecoins under this initiative, described by AFSA as a first-of-its-kind regulatory payment mechanism in the region.
The programme is open to Digital Asset Service Providers licensed for money services or Digital Asset Trading Facility operations within the AIFC.
AnchorX and licensed stablecoin issuers
AnchorX.KZ Limited became the first firm to receive an AFSA fiat-backed stablecoin issuer licence, in June 2025. The firm launched AxCNH, a stablecoin pegged to the offshore Chinese yuan (CNH), targeting cross-border payment and trade settlement use cases for companies operating along the Belt and Road corridor.
In September 2026, CodeCoin, a global payment technology firm, announced that it had also obtained preliminary AFSA stablecoin issuance approval from the Astana FInancial Service Authority (AFSA) which is pending for final authorization to commence operations CodeCoin has signed a memorandum of understanding with Altyn Bank, with Mastercard, Citibank and China International Capital Corporation as witnesses. The firm also signed an agreement with the Alatau City Authority State Fund in June 2026 to support cross-border digital payment infrastructure connecting Central Asia and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
By September 2026, the AIFC hosted 35 licensed digital asset service providers, including 11 digital asset exchanges, 16 investment service providers, and 8 payment organizations, among them three stablecoin issuers. Source
The digital tenge (CBDC) and its relationship to stablecoins
The digital tenge is Kazakhstan’s central bank digital currency (CBDC). On 18 July 2026, it received official legal status as the third form of the national currency alongside cash and traditional non-cash money. By early 2026, approximately 336.6 billion tenge (around $685.9 million) in digital tenge had been issued, and the technology had been deployed in over 100 pilot projects.
The digital tenge is distinct from fiat-backed stablecoins. It is issued exclusively by the National Bank and carries state legal tender status. Fiat-backed stablecoins such as Evo (KZTE) are issued by private, licensed entities and backed by reserves, not by the central bank itself.
The two coexist and are complementary. The digital tenge strategy has shifted toward programmable public spending (government subsidies, procurement, tax administration), while stablecoins are being developed for private-sector payment and settlement use cases. National Bank Chairman Timur Suleimenov has publicly described cross-border interoperability between stablecoins and the digital tenge as an area under active development.
Stablecoin Use Cases Emerging in Kazakhstan
Crypto cards and retail payments
In June 2025, the National Bank launched the CryptoCard initiative: payment cards that allow consumers to make retail transactions using cryptocurrency stored in AIFC-licensed exchange wallets. Merchants receive fiat tenge; the conversion happens at the point of sale. This provides a practical crypto-to-payment bridge that integrates digital assets into existing payment infrastructure without requiring merchants to accept crypto directly.
A pilot CryptoCity zone in the Alatau district of Almaty allows crypto to be used for payments for goods, services and property within a designated area. President Tokayev witnessed the country’s first in-person crypto payment through the CryptoPay system in April 2026 during his visit to Alem.ai in Astana.
Cross-border payments and trade corridors
Cross-border payment is the highest-priority use case for Kazakhstan’s stablecoin ecosystem. Kazakhstan’s bilateral trade with China reached $43.8 billion in 2024, and the country sits at the intersection of trade corridors linking China, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.
Multiple stablecoin issuers licensed by AFSA have explicitly targeted this corridor. AnchorX’s AxCNH stablecoin targets offshore yuan cross-border settlements. CodeCoin’s infrastructure is positioned for payments between Central Asia and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region.
At the national policy level, Kazakhstan’s September 2026 roadmap explicitly includes using Kazakhstan-issued stablecoins for export-import transactions and cross-border transfers, alongside a special tax regime to support these activities.
The digital tenge has been tested in cross-border scenarios with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and interoperability with China’s e-CNY is under active development.
Real-world asset tokenization
Kazakhstan’s most significant near-term tokenization milestone is a $60 million pilot announced by National Bank Governor Timur Suleimenov in September 2026. The pilot plans to tokenize up to $50 million of the Iconic Tower complex and $10 million of the Birlik logistics center in Alatau City, issued through the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange’s digital infrastructure.
The National Bank also tested real estate tokenization in February 2026, issuing digital tokens backed by commercial real estate on a one-token-per-square-meter model.
Alatau City, a planned technology and financial district near Almaty, is positioned as the primary testing ground for blockchain-native asset infrastructure. Solana Company signed an MoU with Alatau City in June 2026 to develop digital asset treasury management, institutional blockchain adoption, stablecoin payments and real-world asset tokenization infrastructure for the zone. Source
Custody Requirements for Stablecoin Operators in Kazakhstan
Regulation sets the perimeter; custody infrastructure determines whether an operator can actually meet it.
What regulators require
Both AFSA and the National Bank place specific obligations on businesses that hold or manage digital assets on behalf of clients. These include:
- Asset segregation: customer assets must be kept separate from the operator’s own funds
- Key management: private key custody arrangements must be defined, documented and tested
- Transaction controls: transaction signing, approval workflows and access permissions must reflect the operator’s risk profile
- AML/CFT integration: wallet operations must connect with KYC, transaction monitoring and sanctions screening
- Incident response: businesses must have documented procedures for security incidents, loss events and system failures
- Business continuity: custody and operational systems must continue functioning under adverse conditions
For AFSA-regulated custodians and digital asset trading facilities, AFSA’s fit-and-proper process specifically examines wallet segregation, withdrawal governance, reconciliation procedures and incident recovery arrangements. Applications that address these in operational detail perform better in regulatory review than those that describe them only at a high level.
Key management and wallet architecture
Fiat-backed stablecoin platforms and licensed exchanges handling stablecoins need a wallet architecture that reflects the risk of the assets they hold. Key questions regulators will ask:
- Are private keys held directly by the operator, by a third-party custodian, or under a multi-party computation (MPC) model?
- How is transaction signing controlled, and what prevents unauthorized transactions?
- What is the split between hot, warm and cold wallets, and what governs movement between them?
- How are wallets segregated by customer or asset type?
MPC-based architecture (where private keys are never held in a single location and transaction signing requires participation from multiple independent parties) is the institutional standard for regulated digital asset businesses. It eliminates single points of compromise and supports the key management standards regulators expect.
Segregation of duties and transaction governance
Kazakhstan’s regulatory requirements explicitly cover organizational controls as well as technical ones. Segregation of duties means that the person who initiates a transaction cannot also approve it, and that access to production wallets is separate from access to compliance or reporting systems.
Practically, this requires:
- Multi-level approval workflows for transactions above defined thresholds
- Role-based access controls that match each person’s function to their permissions
- Transaction policies that define permitted counterparties, assets, amounts and times
- Audit trails that record every action on every wallet, with tamper-proof logs
For stablecoin issuers specifically, mint and burn operations (creating new stablecoin supply or redeeming it) carry the highest operational risk and require the strongest governance controls. A mint operation that bypasses a second-authorization step could create unauthorized issuance. A burn operation without reconciliation creates a mismatch between on-chain supply and reserve backing.
Compliance integrations
Regulated stablecoin operators in Kazakhstan must implement AML/CFT controls. For wallet-level compliance, this means integrating transaction monitoring and sanctions screening at the point of transaction, not just at customer onboarding.
Know-Your-Transaction (KYT) tools monitor on-chain transaction flows and flag addresses associated with illicit activity. Travel Rule compliance (required where applicable) means transmitting sender and receiver information when transferring value above thresholds.
These integrations are most effective when built into the wallet and custody layer directly, rather than applied as a separate post-processing layer.
How Institutional Wallet Infrastructure Supports Stablecoin Operations
A stablecoin operator’s workflow spans issuance, distribution, payment settlement, redemption and reserve management. Each stage involves on-chain transactions with different risk profiles and control requirements.
Issuance and redemption. Minting new stablecoin supply against verified fiat reserves, and burning supply when users redeem, are the highest-risk operations for any stablecoin issuer. They require a strict approval chain: at minimum, dual authorization from independent parties before any mint or burn transaction is signed. An institutional wallet platform enforces this through policy-level transaction controls that cannot be bypassed by a single operator.
Distribution and treasury. Moving stablecoin supply to exchange partners, payment processors or liquidity providers requires transaction governance that applies the right approval threshold to each destination. Treasury operations (including reserve movements and liquidity management) require full auditability, with every transfer tied to an approved instruction.
Payment settlement. For stablecoin-based payments, whether retail crypto cards or cross-border trade corridors, the settlement layer needs to process high volumes with consistent policy enforcement. This means automated rules for routine transactions and human approval gates for exceptions.
Multi-chain support. Kazakhstan’s stablecoin ecosystem already spans Solana (Evo/KZTE), and issuers targeting cross-border corridors will need to operate across multiple networks. Infrastructure that can manage wallets and transactions across chains from a single control plane reduces operational complexity and audit overhead.
Compliance at the wallet layer. Integrating KYT screening and AML workflows at the transaction layer, so that every outgoing payment is screened before it is signed, is more reliable than screening after the fact. For regulated operators, this is not optional; it is part of demonstrating adequate controls to regulators.
How Liminal Supports Digital Asset Businesses in Regulated Markets
Liminal provides institutional custody and wallet infrastructure for exchanges, custodians, stablecoin platforms and other regulated digital asset businesses.
MPC wallet architecture. Liminal’s wallet infrastructure is built on multi-party computation, eliminating single points of key compromise. Transaction signing requires participation from multiple independent parties, which meets the key management standards regulators in Kazakhstan and other markets expect.
Transaction governance. Liminal’s platform supports configurable approval workflows (multi-level authorization, role-based access, transaction policies, and spending limits) that enforce segregation of duties operationally. Mint, burn, and large-value transfers can be routed through an approval chain that reflects each operator’s governance requirements.
Wallet infrastructure and multi-chain support. Liminal supports wallet creation, management and transaction operations across multiple blockchain networks from a single platform, with APIs for integration into exchange, treasury and payment systems.
Compliance integrations. Liminal integrates with third-party KYT, AML screening and Travel Rule tools, including a direct integration with Notabene, connecting wallet-level transaction flows with compliance monitoring systems.
Audit and reporting. Every wallet action and transaction is logged with a tamper-evident audit trail, supporting the record-keeping obligations that Kazakhstan’s regulators require.
Liminal operates as wallet and custody infrastructure for regulated digital asset businesses. It does not hold licences from Kazakhstan’s regulators, and it does not replace the licensing, capital, governance or compliance obligations that operators must meet directly. Businesses establishing stablecoin operations in Kazakhstan should confirm their own regulatory requirements with AFSA or the National Bank directly.
