Kazakhstan’s government is reportedly considering converting a portion of the country’s National Fund assets, as well as part of its gold and foreign exchange reserves, to fund a cryptocurrency reserve.
According to The Times of Central Asia, Berik Sholpankulov, deputy chairman of Kazakhstan’s National Bank, announced the initiative during a recent parliamentary session. A Bloomberg Law report Friday suggested the government aims to allocate between $500 million and $1 billion to the effort.
“I think by year end, January next year, we will have it up and running,” Sholpankulov said, according to Bloomberg. Sholpankulov said the creation of a state-managed crypto asset fund is under discussion among government officials. “We are considering the possibility of using part of the National Fund’s assets and gold and foreign exchange reserves for investment in crypto assets.”
The central bank official said confiscated assets “will be transferred to the state digital asset fund” to be “stored as a strategic reserve of the government.” He also said the Ministry of Digital Development has proposed allowing state-owned entities to supply energy to private cryptocurrency mining companies in exchange for cryptocurrency.
Related: Kazakhstan pilots USD-pegged stablecoin payments for regulatory fees
Kazakhstan goes all-in on crypto
The reported initiative follows Kazakhstan’s launch of a state-backed crypto reserve in partnership with crypto exchange Binance in late September, with BNB (BNB) as the first digital asset in its portfolio.
Related: Kazakhstan to launch crypto pilot zone for payments and adoption
In early October, Kazakhstan shut down 130 cryptocurrency platforms involved in money laundering schemes and seized $16.7 million in cryptocurrency.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has repeatedly called for the creation of a “full-fledged ecosystem of digital assets” and urged regulators to accelerate work on integrating crypto into the nation’s broader economic framework.
The country is also implementing a dual model, piloting its central bank digital currency while launching a stablecoin in collaboration with Solana and Mastercard.
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