National Bank of Kazakhstan

The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) is the Republic of Kazakhstan's central bank and primary monetary authority, and the regulatory force behind one of the most significant sovereign blockchain initiatives in Central Asia — the launch of the country's first tenge-pegged stablecoin, Evo (KZTE), on the Solana blockchain.

Background and Core Mission

Founded on April 13, 1993, when the State Bank of the Kazakh SSR was reorganized into an independent national institution following Kazakhstan's independence, the NBK operates with a mandate of ensuring price stability and supporting the development of the financial system in the public interest. The bank is accountable to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan while maintaining operational independence in monetary policy.

The NBK's primary responsibilities span six major domains: monetary policy implementation, financial stability oversight, currency regulation, payment infrastructure management, macroeconomic and financial statistics, and cash circulation management. Since 2015, the bank has conducted monetary policy within an inflation-targeting framework using a floating tenge exchange rate. The Monetary Policy Strategy 2030, adopted from 2023, targets annual inflation of around 5% in the medium term. As of June 2026, the base rate stands at 17.00%, with annual inflation at 10.3%.

Digital Asset Legal Framework

Kazakhstan established a comprehensive legal framework for digital assets through the Law on Digital Assets in the Republic of Kazakhstan (Law No. 193-VII LRK), enacted February 6, 2023, and effective April 1, 2023. The law was further modernized in January 2026 to introduce a new class of financial instruments encompassing digital financial assets (DFAs), stablecoins, and tokenized assets.

The NBK's regulatory philosophy is built on principles of technological neutrality and the "same activity, same risk, same regulation" doctrine — a balanced approach that avoids outright prohibition while maintaining systematic oversight of digital asset service providers, including trading platform operators, exchange operators, and licensed digital miners.

Digital Tenge CBDC

In November 2023, the NBK officially launched the Digital Tenge, Kazakhstan's central bank digital currency (CBDC). The Digital Tenge is designed to enhance financial inclusion and facilitate cross-border payment capabilities. Full industrial implementation of the CBDC was targeted for 2025, positioning Kazakhstan as one of the few emerging-market economies to operationalize a national digital currency at scale.

Regulatory Sandbox and the Evo (KZTE) Stablecoin on Solana

On June 30, 2025, the NBK launched a dedicated digital assets regulatory sandbox — described officially as "a special regime that allows you to launch projects before making changes to legislation, test business models and technologies in a safe and controlled environment." The sandbox remains open to applications across payment services and digital assets.

Among the pilot projects selected within the sandbox is the Evo stablecoin (ticker: KZTE), Kazakhstan's first tenge-denominated stablecoin and one of the most consequential central-bank-adjacent blockchain initiatives in the region. Launched in September 2025, Evo is built on the Solana blockchain, chosen for its transaction speed, low latency, and energy efficiency.

The stablecoin was issued jointly by Intebix — a digital asset exchange registered at the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) — and Eurasian Bank, with Solana providing the underlying blockchain infrastructure and Mastercard enabling integration with global payment networks and international stablecoin issuers. Evo maintains a 1:1 peg to the Kazakhstani tenge.

NBK Governor Timur Suleimenov highlighted the initiative's goal of striking "a balance between innovation and regulatory stability." Binur Zhalenov, the NBK's Chief Digital Officer, described the bank's strategy as "pursuing co-ordinated efforts to grow Kazakhstan's digital assets industry step by step."

Rather than issuing KZTE directly, the NBK established the legal and operational framework, with actual issuance handled by licensed entities within the sandbox structure. This model has attracted international attention as unusually proactive for a central bank: Intebix founder Talgat Dossanov called it "the first case where the central bank is taking such a proactive role in stablecoin issuance."

Key Use Cases

The Evo stablecoin targets practical applications at the intersection of crypto and traditional finance:

• Crypto-to-tenge conversion through regulated exchange channels
• Trading operations conducted via crypto-linked payment cards
• Consumer payments using funds held in crypto exchange wallets
• Broader integration of digital asset infrastructure with Kazakhstan's conventional payment systems

In a complementary move, the NBK also approved USD-pegged stablecoins (including USDT) for payment of regulatory fees in September 2025, signaling an expanding integration of digital assets across official financial services.

Leadership

The National Bank of Kazakhstan is governed by a board under Governor Timur Suleimenov. The bank's digital and fintech agenda is overseen by Chief Digital Officer Binur Zhalenov. The institution operates its central apparatus in Astana with a permanent representation in Almaty and regional branches across the country.

Fit in the Solana Ecosystem

The NBK's facilitation of the Evo/KZTE stablecoin marks Kazakhstan and Central Asia as an emerging frontier for sovereign and institutional adoption of Solana. By anchoring the country's first tenge-pegged stablecoin on Solana rather than a proprietary chain or a competing L1, the NBK signaled confidence in Solana's throughput and cost profile for high-volume payment applications. Backed by Mastercard's global payment infrastructure and tested within a live, supervised regulatory sandbox, the initiative positions Solana as a credible layer for government-adjacent stablecoin infrastructure in emerging markets — and places the National Bank of Kazakhstan at the center of that experiment.