The National Bank of Kazakhstan said on Tuesday it is running a pilot for a new stablecoin tied to the Kazakhstani tenge. The token, called Evo or KZTE, was issued by Intebix exchange and Eurasian Bank and runs on the Solana blockchain.
Mastercard will help link the token to global stablecoin networks. The project sits inside the central bank’s Digital Assets Regulatory Sandbox and aims to test crypto tools that work with regular banking rails.
Pilot launch and partners
The pilot is live now within the sandbox, and Intebix and Eurasian Bank issued the token under the bank’s oversight.
Solana provides the blockchain platform. Mastercard will help connect KZTE to other stablecoin issuers and payment systems.
Regulatory role and purpose
The National Bank is not the issuer, and it gave the legal space for the experiment and will watch how the token performs.
Officials say the work is part of a wider plan to build a national digital asset ecosystem. The goal is to link crypto innovation with traditional finance and test new services under strict rules.
Project leaders say KZTE will widen the crypto-to-fiat channel, and the token could make it easier to exchange cryptocurrencies.
It could also work with crypto-linked cards to let people pay in tenge through crypto rails. The pilot will study these use cases in a controlled setting.
Technical setup
KZTE runs on Solana, and that choice means the token can settle quickly and at low cost. Mastercard’s role focuses on connecting KZTE to broader stablecoin networks and to card payment flows.
Intebix said the setup should let banks and exchanges test real transactions without exposing the whole market to risk.
Context in Kazakhstan’s digital push
The project fits into a larger move by Kazakhstan to embrace digital assets. The country has already rolled out a digital tenge as a central bank digital currency in November 2023.
Officials said the digital tenge helped speed VAT refunds, and Kazakhstan is also exploring a national crypto reserve and has opened doors for USD-pegged stablecoins to be used in some official payments.
Mining and market background
Kazakhstan has a history in crypto mining, and in 2022, it accounted for about 13% of global Bitcoin mining hashrate. That role has helped shape its policy debate on mining, tokens and blockchain services.
The pilot was welcomed by local and international partners. Backers say the sandbox model gives the central bank room to test rules and guardrails.
The involvement of a major card network shows an interest in bringing tokens into existing payment systems rather than keeping them isolated.
Potential benefits and risks
If KZTE works, it could speed transfers, lower costs and widen access to digital payment tools. It could also give local banks new products to offer clients, but pilots can expose risks.
The sandbox will watch issues such as fraud, operational faults and the legal status of token flows. Regulators will need to weigh consumer protection alongside innovation.
The project will run tests and gather data, and the National Bank and the sandbox participants will review results before any wider rollout. The pilot aims to show whether a tenge-pegged stablecoin can safely serve real users and link to global stablecoin systems.
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