Tether & Kazakhstan Explore Tenge Stablecoin, RWA Tokenization

The MoU Behind the Push

Cointelegraph reported on October 7 that Tether signed a memorandum of understanding involving the National Bank of Kazakhstan and authorities in Alatau City. The initiative plans to analyze existing stablecoin issuance models globally, research that will inform a proposal for a pilot tenge pegged stablecoin.

The tokenization side of the effort will center on Alatau City, where the three organizations aim to identify suitable assets for tokenization and build a framework for a pilot project. Tether’s Hadron asset tokenization platform is under review for potential use.

Part of a Bigger Digital Asset Strategy

This partnership aligns with Kazakhstan’s broader policy to foster its digital asset industry. In September, the government approved 65 initiatives across 10 areas, including asset tokenization, digital payments, and virtual asset mining.

Kazakhstan already holds a strategic national reserve of virtual assets valued at $700 million. Separately, 34 digital asset projects have completed testing in the central bank’s regulatory sandbox, and the country has an established base for Bitcoin mining, ranking among the world’s top 10 nations as of 2025.

The collaboration also includes specialized personnel training. The parties will jointly run workshops and educational programs covering:

• Stablecoin issuance
• Reserve management
• Real-world asset tokenization

What the Central Bank Is Watching For

Binur Zhalenov, deputy governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, said the bank will study international approaches before moving forward. Priorities include financial stability, transaction transparency, and investor protection. BitcoinTreasuries.net estimates the Kazakh government holds about 3,544 BTC separately from this initiative.

Hashlytics Take

An MoU is a research commitment, not a launch date, and Kazakhstan’s own language here (studying international approaches, prioritizing stability) reads as deliberately cautious rather than a race to ship. What makes this worth tracking isn’t the tenge peg itself, it’s that Kazakhstan already has the regulatory sandbox, the Bitcoin mining infrastructure, and a $700 million reserve in place before this partnership even started. That’s a government building tokenization capacity methodically, not chasing a headline.