Overview
- Tether, the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the Alatau City Authority signed a memorandum of understanding on Oct. 7, 2026 to prepare a concept and pilot proposals for a tenge‑pegged stablecoin and asset tokenization.
- The agreement is explicitly exploratory and non‑binding, and it does not commit to issuing a stablecoin or specify a blockchain, issuance date, reserve model, or commercial issuer.
- Alatau City plans to pilot tokenization of up to $60 million in projects by the end of 2026, with the Iconic Tower targeted for up to $50 million and the Birlik logistics center up to $10 million.
- The parties will run workshops on reserve management, distributed ledgers and investor protections, and they may consider using Tether’s Hadron tokenization platform while coordinating with Kazakhstan’s new digital‑asset rules from May 2026 and prior sandbox pilots.
- Key things to watch are whether the Alatau tokenizations close this year, which platform and blockchain are chosen, how reserve and custody arrangements are designed, and whether a tenge on‑chain option meaningfully changes how Kazakh households and businesses send payments or access finance.