Kazakhstan Launches $1 Billion National Cryptocurrency Reserve Fund

The Race for a National Cryptocurrency Treasury

Kazakhstan is making a decisive move into digital assets with plans to create a national cryptocurrency reserve fund worth between $500 million and $1 billion by early 2026, according to government sources with knowledge of the proposal.

The initiative aims to position Kazakhstan as Central Asia’s key hub for sovereign digital asset investment and blockchain innovation, in line with the country’s broader economic diversification strategy and growing focus on digital financial infrastructure.

Kazakhstan's strategic goals

The initiative will be jointly overseen by the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK), the Ministry of Digital Development, and the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA). The proposed National Cryptocurrency Reserve Fund (NCRF) will serve several roles:

• Diversifying National Reserves – Kazakhstan seeks to balance its dependence on traditional reserves such as gold and foreign currencies with Bitcoin, Ethereum and several stable cryptocurrencies, viewing digital assets as long-term strategic holdings.

• Institutional Investment Vehicle – The Fund will participate in blockchain infrastructure, mining and crypto asset projects, both domestically and internationally.

• Monetary Policy Innovation – NCRF will also explore the integration of tokenized government bonds and digital tenge reserves (CBDC), potentially creating a bridge between central bank-backed currencies and decentralized digital liquidity.

Officials describe the fund as “ a digital complement ” to Kazakhstan’s National Oil and Gas Fund, reflecting a policy shift from reliance on raw resources to digital capital accumulation.

Economic and geopolitical context

Kazakhstan’s move comes amid an increasingly competitive global race for state-backed cryptocurrency reserves. Countries like El Salvador and Bhutan have incorporated Bitcoin into their national strategies, while Singapore, the UAE and Hong Kong are exploring hybrid digital asset reserve models.

For Kazakhstan, the initiative builds on its established presence in the cryptocurrency mining industry – which once accounted for more than 15% of the global Bitcoin hashrate. After tightening environmental and tax policies in 2023, the government is now shifting from being a mining host to becoming a strategic investor in digital assets.

Economists argue that a sovereign cryptocurrency fund could improve:

• Flexibility of foreign exchange reserves

• Modernizing the financial system

• Regional competitiveness in fintech and digital banking.

The fund is also expected to complement the ongoing work on Digital Tenge, the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), by establishing a clear link between public blockchain assets and state-issued digital currencies.

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