Tether has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the Alatau City Authority to explore a stablecoin pegged to the tenge, the country's national currency, and the tokenization of real-world assets.

Under the agreement, the parties will study international stablecoin issuance models, identify potential use cases and develop a proposal for a pilot tenge-backed stablecoin, according to an official announcement from Tether.

The memorandum also calls for the development of an asset tokenization framework, including identifying assets for potential tokenization and launching a pilot project in Alatau that could use Tether's Hadron platform, the company's asset tokenization infrastructure. Tokenization refers to representing assets as digital tokens on a blockchain, an approach that can make ownership easier to divide, trade and transfer.

Tether, the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the Alatau City Authority will also hold workshops and training programs covering stablecoin issuance, reserve management and real-world asset tokenization.

Binur Zhalenov, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, said the central bank plans to study international approaches to stablecoin issuance and tokenization while prioritizing financial stability, transaction transparency and investor protection. The pilot stablecoin proposal and the selection of assets for tokenization are the next steps to watch under the memorandum.

Kazakhstan expands digital asset push

Kazakhstan, the world's largest landlocked country, has accelerated its push into digital assets this year, rolling out initiatives spanning stablecoins, tokenization, crypto payments and mining. The Tether memorandum pairs the central bank with the issuer of USDT, the world's largest stablecoin by market value.

In September, the government approved a 65-measure plan across 10 areas aimed at developing the country's digital asset industry. The plan includes measures to expand real-world asset tokenization, digital payments, international settlements and crypto mining.

The government also instructed the Energy and Digital ministries to develop a mechanism for using gas- and coal-fired power generation to supply mining centers. Kazakhstan ranked among the world's top 10 countries for Bitcoin production in 2025, according to the government.

Kazakhstan's National Strategic Crypto Reserve, meanwhile, has reached $700 million, while 34 digital asset projects have completed testing in the central bank's regulatory sandbox, Tether said.

BitcoinTreasuries.net ranks Kazakhstan seventh among governments in its database for Bitcoin holdings, with an estimated 3,544 BTC worth about $294 million.

Source: Cointelegraph