Digital Tenge: implementation results

The National Payment Corporation and the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan have published a White Paper outlining the progress of the Digital Tenge project and the work carried out in 2025. The document summarizes the platform’s limited production phase and outlines key achievements that have become the foundation for the transition to full-fledged industrial operation of the national digital currency.

By 2025, the project’s primary focus was on scaling up practical use cases for the Digital Tenge and integrating the platform into existing financial and government infrastructure. Pilot projects enabled testing the programmable payments in real economic processes and confirmed the platform’s technological sustainability.

One of the key areas of work was the use of the Digital Tenge in state-related payments. Eight scenarios were implemented as part of the Digital Tenge pilot projects by the end of 2025. These scenarios ensured the targeted use of budget funds in various fields including financing infrastructure projects, implementing public procurement, supporting entrepreneurship, and other government programs. The use of programmable mechanisms enabled the transparency of fund flows and improved the manageability of budget expenditures.

During the platform’s limited production phase, 336.6 billion Digital Tenges were issued and over a thousand transactions were conducted. The results confirmed the platform’s technological and operational viability and its readiness for further scaling up.

The “Digital VAT” scenario was also enhanced in 2025. Within the framework of this scenario, the value-added tax (VAT) amount is automatically marked upon payment and can only be used for subsequent payments within the supply chain or for transferring the tax to the state. The scenario’s architecture linked payments with electronic invoices and created an end-to-end digital transaction trail, thus increasing the transparency of tax administration and speeding up VAT refunds for exporters.

The development of a programmable payment mechanisms was one of the milestones achieved in 2025. Two types of programmability (“marking” and “holding”) were tested in various pilot projects. The mechanism of “marking” enabled setting conditions for the use of funds and tracking their movement within the supply chain, while the “holding” mechanism can automatically execute payments upon the occurrence of confirmed events (for instance, registration of a deal or contract terms being fulfilled).

Another direction of ​​work in 2025 was exploring the potential of cross-border payments using central bank digital currencies (CBDC). Preliminary studies and technological tests (including interactions between various jurisdictions’ CBDC platforms) were conducted. Obtained results confirmed the potential of using national digital currencies to accelerate cross-border payments.

The work completed in 2025 has prepared the Digital Tenge platform for the next stage of development—transition to full-scale industrial operation. The experience from conducted pilot projects has demonstrated that the national digital currency can be effectively used in budgetary processes, tax administration, and other areas requiring high transparency and payment automation.

The White Paper of 2025 demonstrates the results of the limited production phase and identifies areas for further development of the Digital Tenge ecosystem. It includes scaling existing scenarios, developing new services based on programmable money, and expanding interaction with financial market participants.

For more detailed information, please contact us:
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Akmayev.D@npck.kz