Kazakhstan’s Digital Tenge: IMF Roadmap from Experimentation to Safe National Launch

The IMF finds that Kazakhstan has made strong progress on the Digital Tenge through extensive pilots, but warns that moving to a full launch will require clear legal authority, stronger governance, and careful assessment of financial stability and cyber risks. The report stresses that success now depends less on technology and more on legal certainty, prioritized use cases, and coordinated decision-making across institutions.

Kazakhstan is approaching a decisive phase in its experiment with sovereign digital money. After several years of pilots, research and analysis carried out by the International Monetary Fund, drawing on expertise from its Monetary and Capital Markets, Legal, Information Technology, and Statistics Departments, together with the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the National Payments Corporation of Kazakhstan, now point to deeper challenges ahead. The Digital Tenge project is shifting from technical proof of concept to questions of law, financial stability, and institutional readiness that will determine whether it can move safely toward nationwide use.

Kazakhstan’s Big Push Toward a Digital Currency

Kazakhstan has been experimenting with the Digital Tenge since 2021 as part of a broader strategy to modernize its payments system and take advantage of rapid digitalization. Authorities have already tested multiple proofs of concept, prototypes, and pilot programs, while also rolling out complementary initiatives such as fast payment systems and QR code standardization. The goal is ambitious: to launch an “industrial-grade” Digital Tenge platform by the end of 2025. The IMF views this timeline as achievable, but only if authorities move beyond experimentation and make clear strategic choices about what the Digital Tenge is meant to achieve and how it should function in practice.

From Technical Pilots to Real-World Risks

So far, most Digital Tenge pilots have focused on limited retail use cases, which the IMF considers relatively low risk from a financial stability perspective. However, the report warns that this assessment may not hold as the Digital Tenge expands into broader applications. Future possibilities, such as links with crypto-asset ecosystems or use for large-value transactions, could create new risks, including bank disintermediation or liquidity stress. The IMF therefore urges authorities to carefully analyze macro-financial implications before scaling up and to ensure that safeguards are tested well in advance. The message is clear: what looks safe in a small pilot may behave very differently at a national scale.

The Legal and Governance Gap That Must Be Closed

One of the report’s strongest conclusions is that Kazakhstan urgently needs a clear legal foundation for issuing a digital currency. Under current law, the NBK’s authority to issue money is limited to banknotes and coins. While this has not blocked pilot projects, it creates uncertainty for any permanent, nationwide rollout. The IMF stresses that legal certainty is essential for trust and long-term viability, and it recommends clarifying the status of the Digital Tenge under central bank, monetary, civil, and payments laws, potentially through legislative amendments. At the same time, the report highlights governance challenges. The Digital Tenge project is currently driven mainly by payment system teams, but broader involvement from monetary policy, financial stability, supervision, and legal departments will be crucial as the project moves closer to launch.

What Needs to Happen Before Launch

Looking ahead, the IMF outlines several priorities. First, Kazakhstan should develop a clear evaluation framework that links Digital Tenge pilots to policy objectives, not just technical performance. Pilots should be used to understand user behavior, incentives for banks and payment providers, and possible unintended consequences. Second, authorities should prioritize use cases based on what the platform can safely handle, rather than trying to do everything at once. Finally, strong attention must be paid to cybersecurity and operational resilience. The IMF recommends setting minimum security standards for all participants and commissioning an independent security assessment before launching the industrial-grade platform. In sum, the report portrays Kazakhstan as a frontrunner in digital currency experimentation, but one that must now slow down, clarify its foundations, and strengthen safeguards to ensure the Digital Tenge succeeds in the real economy