Kyrgyzstan is moving ahead with its national cryptocurrency strategy, launching a stablecoin and preparing for a public sector rollout of a central bank digital currency (CBDC),according to Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ).
The new stablecoin, believed to be KGST, is pegged 1:1 to the national currency, Kyrgyzstan’s Som, and is registered in the State Register of Digital Assets. It differs from USDKG, a dollar-backed stablecoin backed by $500 million in gold reserves from the Kyrgyz Ministry of Finance planned to launch in Q3.
At the same time, the country’s CBDC, the digital som, is now legally recognized and expected to be piloted for government-related payments, CZ added.
This follows an April decision by President Sadyr Japarov to amend the country’s constitutional law, giving the digital som legal tender status if fully launched by the National Bank.
Kyrgyzstan is also building out a broader crypto infrastructure. It has created a national cryptocurrency reserve that includes BNB, launched law enforcement training and signed on Binance Academy to partner with 10 universities.
Binance has also localized its app in Kyrgyz and hosted a 1,000-person meetup in the capital, Bishkek, Zhao pointed out.
Sign, where CZ’s family fund YZi Labs is an investor in, is also working with the Kyrgyz government on smart contract infrastructure, he added.