The digital tenge, Kazakhstan’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), has been declared a success following a month-long pilot project. A host of business, regulatory and technical improvements are lined up for it in 2024.
During its pilot run, the digital tenge was used to provide schoolchildren with free lunches in Almaty through the local Onay card, which was originally designed for use in the transit system. The Kazpost postal system operator served as the intermediary for those transactions.
Plastic cards were issued to members of focus groups by four local banks in conjunction with Visa and Mastercard. The cards allowed users to make purchases in person or online and to withdraw cash from ATMs. The participating merchant had the option of accepting digital tenge or converting them to “non-cash” tenge.
By converting digital tenge, they were integrated into existing point-of-sale and QR systems. The cards were functional throughout and outside of Kazakhstan. The report claimed this level of interoperability was a first for a CBDC.
Great follow-up meeting with @Mastercard SVPs Selim Ergoz&Arn Vogels, building upon #UNGA78 agreements. Encouraged by the efforts in the continuous DCP implementation-opening a regional hub in Almaty, bolstering the digital #tenge, offering SME training and other 5 priority areas pic.twitter.com/cpviSwL7DM
— Yerzhan Ashikbayev (@KZAmbUS) November 28, 2023
Other experiments conducted with the digital tenge included maki
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Author: Derek Andersen
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