{"id":47969,"date":"2025-09-07T08:53:46","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T01:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/kazakhstan-pilots-usd-pegged-stablecoin-payments-for-regulatory-fees\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T08:53:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T01:53:46","slug":"kazakhstan-pilots-usd-pegged-stablecoin-payments-for-regulatory-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/kazakhstan-pilots-usd-pegged-stablecoin-payments-for-regulatory-fees\/","title":{"rendered":"Kazakhstan pilots USD-pegged stablecoin payments for regulatory fees"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kazakhstan\u2019s financial regulators have allowed license and supervision fees to be paid in USD-pegged stablecoins.<\/p>\n

Kazakhstan\u2019s Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA), a designated financial authority for the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), has launched a project enabling AIFC members to pay regulatory fees in USD-pegged stablecoins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The regulator announced<\/a> on Thursday that the project was officially launched at the local event Astana Finance Days 2025, signing a related multilateral memorandum of understanding (MMoU) with the centralized crypto exchange (CEX) Bybit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis initiative represents a first-of-its-kind regulatory framework for payments in stablecoins in the region, signaling Kazakhstan\u2019s ambition to position the AIFC as a hub for digital finance […],\u201d AFSA CEO Evgeniya Bogdanova said.<\/p>\n

Replacing fiat-only payments<\/h2>\n

Currently, companies pay regulatory fees primarily through traditional methods such as bank transfers and wire payments in fiat currencies<\/a> such as the US dollar and the Kazakhstani tenge, a spokesperson for Bybit told Cointelegraph.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese methods are functional but often involve delays, high transaction costs and limited flexibility, especially for firms whose primary treasury is held in digital assets,\u201d the representative said.<\/p>\n

With stablecoins like Tether USDt (USDT<\/a>) or Circle\u2019s USDC (USDC<\/a>), the parties are provided with a fast, cost-efficient, and transparent payment option, the Bybit spokesperson noted.<\/p>\n

Participation is subject to eligibility criteria<\/h2>\n

According to the official statement from the AFSA, the project\u2019s participation requires signing an MMoU, subject to meeting the authority\u2019s eligibility criteria.<\/p>\n

Bybit became the inaugural signatory of the MMoU, which was signed during Astana Finance Days 2025 by AFSA\u2019s Bogdanova and Bybit CEO Mazurka Zeng.<\/p>\n

\"Dollar,
AFSA CEO Evgeniya Bogdanova and Bybit CEO Mazurka Zeng signed a MMoU on stablecoin fees at the Astana Finance Days 2025. Source: <\/em>AIFC<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The names of the providers participating in the new project will be published on the official AFSA website after signing an MMoU, the regulator said.<\/p>\n

Cointelegraph approached the AFSA for comment regarding the project details, including eligibility criteria, but had not received a response at the time of publication.<\/p>\n

Jesse Knutson, head of operations at Bitfinex Securities \u2014 which has been operating in Kazakhstan since 2021<\/a> \u2014 told Cointelegraph that the AFSA\u2019s project \u201cdemonstrates how central stablecoins like USDt are to the development of tokenised financial markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFSA led the way by becoming one of the first to develop a regulatory regime for the issuance and listing of tokenised securities, and they are again a first-mover in accepting USDt and others as a fungible currency for their own regulatory fees,\u201d Knutson said.<\/p>\n

Related: <\/strong><\/em>ECB president calls to address risks from non-EU stablecoins<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The news came amid crypto gaining momentum in Kazakhstan, with the US-regulated crypto custodian BitGo assisting the launch of Central Asia\u2019s first spot Bitcoin ETF<\/a> by the local company Fonte Capital in August.<\/p>\n

Kazakhstan has emerged as a major player in the crypto industry, including cryptocurrency mining<\/a>. In June, local authorities also reported studying the concept of a state-run crypto reserve<\/a>, likely funded by digital assets mined or seized by the government.<\/p>\n