Kazakhstan’s AFSA To Adopt Stablecoins for Regulatory Fees

Kazakhstan’s monetary regulators have allowed license and supervision charges to be paid in USD-pegged stablecoins.

Kazakhstan’s Astana Monetary Companies Authority (AFSA), a delegated monetary authority for the Astana Worldwide Monetary Centre (AIFC), has launched a challenge enabling AIFC members to pay regulatory charges in USD-pegged stablecoins.

The regulator announced on Thursday that the challenge was formally launched on the native occasion Astana Finance Days 2025, signing a associated multilateral memorandum of understanding (MMoU) with the centralized crypto change (CEX) Bybit.

“This initiative represents a first-of-its-kind regulatory framework for funds in stablecoins within the area, signaling Kazakhstan’s ambition to place the AIFC as a hub for digital finance […],” AFSA CEO Evgeniya Bogdanova mentioned.

Changing fiat-only funds

At the moment, corporations pay regulatory charges primarily via conventional strategies comparable to financial institution transfers and wire funds in fiat currencies such because the US greenback and the Kazakhstani tenge, a spokesperson for Bybit informed Cointelegraph.

“These strategies are purposeful however typically contain delays, excessive transaction prices and restricted flexibility, particularly for corporations whose main treasury is held in digital belongings,” the consultant mentioned.

With stablecoins like Tether USDt (USDT) or Circle’s USDC (USDC), the events are supplied with a quick, cost-efficient, and clear cost choice, the Bybit spokesperson famous.

Participation is topic to eligibility standards

In line with the official assertion from the AFSA, the challenge’s participation requires signing an MMoU, topic to assembly the authority’s eligibility standards.

Bybit turned the inaugural signatory of the MMoU, which was signed throughout Astana Finance Days 2025 by AFSA’s Bogdanova and Bybit CEO Mazurka Zeng.

The names of the suppliers taking part within the new challenge will probably be printed on the official AFSA web site after signing an MMoU, the regulator mentioned.

Cointelegraph approached the AFSA for remark relating to the challenge particulars, together with eligibility standards, however had not acquired a response on the time of publication.

Jesse Knutson, head of operations at Bitfinex Securities — which has been operating in Kazakhstan since 2021 — informed Cointelegraph that the AFSA’s challenge “demonstrates how central stablecoins like USDt are to the event of tokenised monetary markets.”

“FSA led the way in which by changing into one of many first to develop a regulatory regime for the issuance and itemizing of tokenised securities, and they’re once more a first-mover in accepting USDt and others as a fungible forex for their very own regulatory charges,” Knutson mentioned.

Associated: ECB president calls to address risks from non-EU stablecoins

The information got here amid crypto gaining momentum in Kazakhstan, with the US-regulated crypto custodian BitGo helping the launch of Central Asia’s first spot Bitcoin ETF by the native firm Fonte Capital in August.

Kazakhstan has emerged as a significant participant within the crypto trade, including cryptocurrency mining. In June, native authorities additionally reported studying the concept of a state-run crypto reserve, doubtless funded by digital belongings mined or seized by the federal government.