Kazakhstan is preparing for the launch of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital tenge, with a senior national bank executive making the first transaction on Wednesday.

As the adoption of blockchain technology picks up pace, central banks have been working to introduce their own CBDCs. One of the common factors among CBDCs is the ease of payments and cross-border transactions.

Kazakhstan Buckles up for Large-Scale Digital Tenge Developments

The Chairman of the National Payment Corporation of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, Binur Zhalenov, demonstrated the first digital tenge transaction through a debit card linked to a CBDC account. 

Kazakhstan has collaborated with payment giants Visa and Mastercard to support digital tenge through cards. According to Kapital.kz, Zhalenov spoke at the XI Congress of Kazakhstani financiers:

“Today [Wednesday] we will launch the digital tenge into retail circulation, and next year we are counting on the large-scale development of the platform together with our partners, financial market participants, more and more innovative services will appear.”

Elaborating on the services, Zhalenov said that next year, the bank will enable offline payments with digital tenge. Moreover, the CBDC will be programmable. Zhalenov further explained:

“Essentially, this is smart money that can be used in smart contracts, innovative financial services, secure payments with digital assets and much more.”

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