Tether Signs Pact With Kazakhstan's Central Bank to Explore Tenge Stablecoin

Published October 7, 2026, 08:00 UTC. Based on Tether's official announcement and reporting by Cointelegraph and crypto.news.

Tether is going directly to a central bank. The company behind USDT, the world's largest stablecoin, signed a memorandum of understanding on October 7, 2026, with the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) and the Alatau City Authority (ACA) to explore stablecoin development, asset tokenization and decentralized finance in the country, Tether announced.

The NBK is Kazakhstan's central bank. It develops and implements monetary policy, oversees payment systems, manages currency regulation and control, and maintains the stability of the country's financial system, according to Tether. The ACA is a specialized state administrative body responsible for public administration and regulatory development in the city of Alatau under its special legal regime. The authority was established to position Alatau as a hub for digital innovation and financial technology in Central Asia.

The tenge stablecoin concept

Under the memorandum, the three parties will study international models for stablecoin issuance, define potential use cases, and prepare a concept and pilot proposal for a stablecoin pegged to Kazakhstan's national currency, the tenge, Tether said. The agreement is exploratory. The parties will develop concepts, pilot proposals and training materials, and have not committed to launching a product, Cointelegraph reported.

The memorandum does not approve a new stablecoin. No issuance date, blockchain, reserve structure or commercial issuer has been announced for the proposed token, according to crypto.news. USDT, Tether's flagship stablecoin, is designed to hold a 1:1 value against the U.S. dollar.

The Alatau tokenization pilot

The second leg of the deal covers asset tokenization. Drawing on international regulatory and technological experience, the parties will identify priority asset categories, design a conceptual tokenization model, and launch a pilot project within the jurisdiction of the city of Alatau, Tether said. The pilot could use Hadron by Tether, the company's asset tokenization platform.

The three parties will also hold workshops and training programs covering stablecoin issuance, reserve management and real-world asset tokenization, according to Cointelegraph.

Zhalenov's conditions: stability, transparency, protection

National Bank of Kazakhstan Deputy Governor Binur Zhalenov said the central bank plans to study international approaches to stablecoin issuance and tokenization while prioritizing financial stability, transaction transparency and investor protection, Cointelegraph reported. The comment sets the guardrails for any pilot that emerges from the memorandum.

A second tenge coin, after the sandbox pilot

Kazakhstan is not starting from zero. The central bank already regulates stablecoins and tokenized real assets under rules that took effect in May 2026, according to crypto.news. In September 2025, Kazakhstan launched its first tenge-backed stablecoin pilot, with the Intebix crypto exchange and local lender Eurasian Bank issuing the token on Solana with assistance from Mastercard inside the central bank's regulatory sandbox.

The Tether deal adds the world's largest stablecoin issuer to that experiment. Whether the memorandum produces a live tenge stablecoin will depend on the pilot proposal the parties are now preparing, and on how the NBK applies the stability and investor-protection conditions Zhalenov laid out.

This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.

Sources

• Tether.io, Tether Signs MoU with the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the Alatau City Authority to Explore Stablecoin Use Cases and Asset Tokenization (Oct. 7, 2026), primary source
• Cointelegraph, Kazakhstan Eyes Tenge Stablecoin in Tether Deal (Oct. 7, 2026)
• crypto.news, Tether, Kazakhstan plan tenge stablecoin pilot (Oct. 7, 2026)