Kazakhstan Plans to Issue Tokenized Government Bonds in the First Quarter of 2027

The National Bank of Kazakhstan plans to issue tokenized government bonds jointly with the Ministry of Finance in the first quarter of 2027. This was announced by National Bank Chairman Timur Suleimenov at the 14th Congress of Financiers of Kazakhstan on November 13 in Almaty.

According to him, the National Bank plans to issue "tokenized government bonds" jointly with the Ministry of Finance in the near future, probably in the first quarter of next year.

Kazakhstan is expanding the tokenization of financial and real assets. On October 27, the first issuance of digital financial assets by private issuers took place on the platform of the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE). On November 9, the National Bank issued its own notes in tokenized form for the first time.

According to Suleimenov, the successful holding of these trades means that "the full readiness of the infrastructure and of all institutional arrangements" and other aspects for expanding this mechanism had been tested.

The National Bank's tokenized notes were issued for 10 billion tenge ($21.5 million) through KASE's digital financial assets platform. The notes were placed at auction in both traditional and tokenized form, with a circulation period of 91 days and a weighted average yield of 15.72% per annum.

The head of the National Bank named the tokenization of real assets, including real estate, precious metals and mineral resources, as the next direction. According to him, tokenization turns a financial asset into any type of asset and "democratizes access to finance and reduces its cost."

The plenary session of the congress was also devoted to developing a unified strategy for capital market development and coordination between financial regulators. Suleimenov noted the need for synergy and mutual recognition between the National Bank, the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market, the Astana International Financial Centre and, potentially, the city of Alatau.

The chair of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market, Madina Abylkasymova, said that the current financial market development concept adopted in 2020 needs updating: according to her, about 80% of the concept has already been implemented. She named the rapid development of artificial intelligence and tokenization as the key trends of the new strategy.