哈萨克斯坦央行与Tether探索坚戈挂钩稳定币

哈萨克斯坦央行携手Tether探索坚戈稳定币及实物资产代币化

哈萨克斯坦中央银行正与Tether（泰达币）及阿拉套市当局合作，探索发行以坚戈为支撑的稳定币以及实物资产代币化项目。此举旨在将基于区块链的金融工具纳入受监管的国家框架内，进一步延伸该国在金融科技领域的布局。

10月7日，哈萨克斯坦国家银行（NBK）、Tether和阿拉套市当局签署了一份谅解备忘录，涵盖稳定币、资产代币化及去中心化金融等领域。各方计划研究国际稳定的币模型，确定潜在应用场景，并准备以哈萨克斯坦坚戈为锚定的代币的概念设计及试点方案。需要强调的是，该协议仅为探索性质，并不意味着哈萨克斯坦已决定正式发行稳定币。然而，这一举措符合现有的监管框架，该框架已将货币支撑的稳定币和代币化的真实资产认定为数字金融资产。

为何哈萨克斯坦考虑推出坚戈稳定币？

In 2026, Kazakhstan is committed to building legal infrastructure and promoting digital assets beyond mere cryptocurrency transactions. The comprehensive digital asset system, which came into effect on May 1, establishes a regulated classification system for digital versions of stablecoins, tokenized real assets, and traditional financial instruments. The National Bank of Kazakhstan has identified stablecoins as a potential tool for cross-border payments and settlements involving digital assets. Earlier this year, the central bank approved pilot projects including Tenge support for stablecoins, asset tokenization, and crypto-to-fiat payment infrastructure. Therefore, the proposed Tether cooperation is based on existing policy foundations rather than introducing new concepts from scratch.

In addition, the project will exist in parallel with Kazakhstan's Digital Tenge Framework, allowing the country to have different forms of blockchain-based funds: one is a central bank digital currency, and the other is a stablecoin issued by private individuals or institutions under regulatory supervision.

Investor Revelation

Tenge stablecoins do not necessarily directly compete with digital Tenge. The more critical question is whether Kazakhstan will use regulated stablecoins to play a role in areas that require different digital currency infrastructure than the central bank, such as programmable settlement, encrypted market connectivity, or cross-border transfers.

What assets may be tokenized in Alatau?

The memorandum of understanding also requires all parties to identify asset classes suitable for tokenization, develop a conceptual framework, and prepare pilot projects in the city of Alatau. No specific potential assets have yet been selected. However, Kazakhstan's broader digital asset framework already accommodates tokenized real assets and traditional financial instruments, and the National Bank has separately discussed the possibility of tokenizing government bonds. The city of Alatau provides a controlled environment for testing these models.

Kazakhstan promulgated a constitutional law in May, establishing a special legal system for the city, and the main provisions will take effect on July 1. The framework aims to give the city of Alatau greater flexibility in investment, business activities and technology-driven economic development. This structure is expected to make the city a regulatory and commercial testing ground for blockchain-based capital markets before their expanded deployment. Institution-level tokenization is increasingly moving from proof-of-concept to actual settlement infrastructure.

For example, Tradeweb completed a real-time chain trade in U.S. Treasury bonds this year, while other projects are testing stablecoins in conjunction with tokenized securities for debt-for-money (DVP) settlement.

Investor Revelation

The value of the Alatau project ultimately depends on which assets are actually online. Tokenization of government bonds, real estate or other financial assets will have different liquidity, custody and investor access impacts, so the selection of the first pilot asset is more decisive than the memorandum of understanding itself.

Why does Tether expand to national-level tokenization projects?

Tether's role may not be limited to issuing stablecoins. All parties are considering using Tether's infrastructure Hadron as technical support for the Kazakhstan project. Hadron supports the issuance and life cycle management of instruments including stablecoins, bonds, funds and commodity-backed tokens. Tether is increasingly inclined to demonstrate to governments and financial institutions the value of its platform as infrastructure, rather than just the business of issuing USDTs. This strategy has already emerged in other markets. In July, Tether signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nairobi Stock Exchange to explore tokenized securities and blockchain-based market infrastructure, including the possible use of USDT for settlement.

Tether's size provides huge financial and technical resources for its expansion. Currently, the market value of USDT is about US$184 billion, much higher than the approximately US$140 billion cited in previous data on the Kazakhstan project. Its gold-backed token XAUT has a market value of approximately US$3.4 billion, providing another real-world case for expressing and transferring assets through blockchain infrastructure.

What happens before a stablecoin is issued?

The current priority is research rather than publication. Tether, the National Bank and the Arathau authorities plan to study the reserve and issuance structure, examine international stablecoin models, identify suitable assets and prepare pilot proposals. They will also hold seminars for central bank staff and other government departments, covering reserve management, stablecoin issuance and tokenization of physical assets.

Binur Zhhalenov, deputy governor of the National Bank, said: "As part of the pilot of the tokenization project, we intend to conduct an in-depth study of international best practices in stablecoin issuance and tokenization of physical assets."

Investors advise

This memorandum of understanding should not be regarded as a starting signal for the Tenge stablecoin. The next meaningful milestone will be the design of the pilot program, the choice of reserve and issuance structures, the identification of assets to be tokenized, and the identification of who will ultimately issue and operate these products.