Kazakhstan Debuts State-backed Crypto Reserve
Kazakhstan has created a government-supported cryptocurrency reserve in partnership with Binance, marking another step in the country’s embrace of digital assets. The fund’s first holding is BNB, the utility token that powers Binance’s blockchain, though the announcement did not reveal how much was purchased or whether other cryptocurrencies will be added in the future.
Named the Alem Crypto Fund, it was set up by the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development and is managed by Qazaqstan Venture Group under the Astana International Financial Centre. According to the official announcement, “the primary objective of the fund is to make long-term investments in digital assets and to build strategic reserves.”
Binance has worked closely with Kazakhstan since 2022, when former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao signed an agreement with the Ministry of Digital Development to help build the nation’s regulatory framework. The new initiative follows shortly after Kazakhstan launched its own tenge-backed stablecoin (KZTE) on Solana, in collaboration with Mastercard, Intebix and Eurasian Bank.
Building a national crypto strategy
Kazakhstan, home to nearly 20 million people, has long been one of the world’s key crypto mining hubs. In 2021, it ranked second globally in Bitcoin hashrate. But the country has also faced challenges, with regulators shutting down dozens of unlicensed exchanges and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev calling for more transparent digital asset rules.
Recent years have seen several government-backed initiatives, including the planned “CryptoCity” pilot zone for crypto payments and Tokayev’s proposal for a national digital asset ecosystem and strategic crypto reserve. Reports earlier this year suggested the National Bank of Kazakhstan was exploring a separate state-run reserve funded by seized assets and mining revenues.
Although the Alem Crypto Fund is not a central bank reserve, it shows Kazakhstan’s intent to integrate crypto into national strategies, joining a broader global trend.
El Salvador set the precedent in 2021 when it created a Bitcoin reserve and made BTC legal tender. Bhutan has quietly mined and accumulated Bitcoin for years, while Brazil and Indonesia have also begun exploring their own digital asset reserves.
Sources:
https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/maidd/press/news/details/1077013?lang=en&utm_
https://cointelegraph.com/news/kazakhstan-state-backed-crypto-fund-bnb-binance