Kazakhstan’s digital ministry plans to establish cryptocurrency reserve

Announcing the initiative, the agency cited international practices in this area / Photo: Shutterstock, photo editor: Dastan Shanay

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry is working on establishing a crypto reserve asset, as reported by Lsm.kz. The agency has also confirmed the information to Kursiv.media, noting that the reserve would enable the country to respond more quickly to changes in the global financial system.

The ministry also said that potential sources for the reserve are currently being identified, adding that it could be used to store the state’s assets in cryptocurrency, support the digital economy and contribute to the sector’s development.

«To put it more clearly, this concept can be compared to Kazakhstan’s National Fund, which accumulates profits from the commodity sector to stabilize the national economy and save for the future. The crypto reserve could serve a similar function, but in a digital dimension,» the agency said in a statement.

The agency has proposed a crypto reserve, citing the experience of Switzerland, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, which already use tokenized assets to enhance financial sustainability and attract investment. Notably, Kyrgyzstan also has similar experience.

The timeline for the project’s implementation and public consideration has not yet been revealed. The initiative is currently being developed and discussed among state agencies. It remains unclear exactly which cryptocurrencies will be used as reserves in Kazakhstan and whether they will be acquired using budget funds.

Earlier this week, Olzhas Kuspekov, a member of the Mazhilis, the lower house of parliament, proposed examining the possibility of establishing a state cryptocurrency fund within the National Bank. However, under his proposal, the reserve was intended to store crypto assets seized in criminal cases.

In response, Deputy Governor of the National Bank Berik Sholpankulov stated that there was no need in such a fund for this purpose.

«Under the current legislation, crypto assets are considered property. Everything seized becomes budget revenue. The Ministry of Finance oversees this process, and there is a state property committee responsible for receiving seized assets and transferring them to the budget. All of this is transferred to the state — the committee evaluates the assets, the auctions take place and the proceeds go to the state. That’s why I believe there is no need to establish such a fund, especially at the National Bank,» Sholpankulov said.

Previously, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile. The former is to be composed of cryptocurrency confiscated by the government, while the latter consists of digital assets held by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Therefore, bitcoins are not planned to be acquired using state funds.