Bank Buys Bitcoin in Kazakhstan, Country to Develop Crypto Exchange

A financial institution and a coin trading platform in Kazakhstan have teamed up to carry out what they say is the country’s first such joint transaction for the acquisition of cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s leadership has declared readiness to further develop crypto exchange in the nation’s financial hub.

First Banking Operation With Crypto Assets Opens Door for Legal Coin Purchases in Kazakhstan

Almaty-headquartered Eurasian Bank and the Kazakhstan-based crypto exchange Intebix have reported conducting what they presented as the first crypto-related transaction in the country involving a digital asset trading platform, a banking institution, and a customer. The deal, in which cryptocurrency was acquired with local fiat, was announced at the Digital Bridge 2022 forum.

“This precedent makes it possible for Kazakhstanis to legally purchase cryptocurrencies for tenge, while Eurasian Bank’s proprietary solution made it possible to set one of the lowest fees in the world for such a transaction,” the bank said in a press release. Intebix Exchange Director Talgat Dosanov went even further, claiming:

This is the first cryptocurrency exchange-bank-client transaction in the entire Eurasian continent.

In May of this year, regulators approved pilot regulations permitting crypto transactions in Kazakhstan, under certain conditions. In order to participate in the project, crypto exchanges are required to obtain a license while banks need to adhere to the adopted rules. The government maintains that the framework meets international standards in terms of transaction oversight and security.

The process of buying crypto with Kazakhstani tenge was demonstrated to the country’s head of state. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed his administration’s readiness to support the further development of the project to facilitate crypto asset exchange in the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), the Central Asian nation’s financial hub, if the trial is successful.

Kazakhstan intends to become a leading player in the field of new digital technologies, the cryptocurrency ecosystem and regulated digital mining, Tokayev emphasized. “If this financial instrument shows further demand and security, then it will certainly receive full legal recognition,” he was quoted as saying.

The pilot project at the AIFC was launched this past summer when registered crypto exchanges were allowed to open accounts with domestic banks. Two trading platforms, Intebix (operating under the Biteeu brand in the EU and Australia) and Ataix Eurasia, as well as Halyk Bank, Altyn Bank, and Eurasian Bank are participating in the tests. The pilot will run until the end of 2022.

Eurasian Bank also announced a plan to issue a crypto card this year. It will be linked to an Intebix wallet and holders will be able to pay in tenge while spending their digital coins. The banking institution is currently working out the details with the National Bank of Kazakhstan. Eurasian Bank ranks seven among Kazakhstan’s banks in terms of assets and is a leader in the retail banking market.

Do you expect a rapid increase of crypto-fiat banking operations in Kazakhstan? Tell us in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’s quote: “Being a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.

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