Kazakhstan’s Central Bank Will Invest Up to $350 Million in Crypto Assets: Reuters – Decrypt

Kazakhstan’s central bank has earmarked $350 million for investments in the crypto, with plans to deploy capital as early as next month, Reuters reported on Friday.

“This includes not only cryptocurrency itself,” National Bank of Kazakhstan Governor Governor Timur Suleimenov reportedly said, while taking questions on the central bank’s latest interest rate decision. “We are currently developing ​a list of instruments in which we ⁠will invest.”

Derived from the Central Asian country’s gold and foreign exchange reserves, which totaled nearly $70 billion as of Feb. 1, the initiative marks an effort to diversify away from traditional stores as value using a relatively small amount of capital.

The investments will span “shares of high-tech ​companies related to cryptocurrencies and digital financial assets, index funds, and other instruments that exhibit similar ​dynamics to crypto assets,” suggesting that the central bank may not hold digital assets in their native form.

Decrypt has reached out to the National Bank of Kazakhstan for comment.

Kazakhstan’s national fund, established decades ago to manage oil-sale revenue, was valued at $65.23 billion at the start of last month. And the central bank’s investments in crypto could begin as late as May, per Reuters, which cited Deputy Governor Aliya Moldabekova.

“We are currently selecting companies that deal with digital ​assets. For ​example, those ⁠involved in cryptocurrency infrastructure,” she said. “We are currently in the process ​of selecting such companies.”

The measure resembles a relatively distinct approach to capitalizing on digital assets compared to the strategic Bitcoin reserve established by the Trump administration last year, set to be seeded using Bitcoin seized from U.S. criminal or civil proceedings via executive order. The reserve represented a key campaign promise from President Donald Trump in 2024.

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev floated a strategic crypto reserve himself in September, describing such assets as foundational to “the new digital financial system.”

At the time, he tied the country’s efforts to Alatau City, a so-called smart city featuring massive towers that aims to reach a population of 2 million residents by 2050.

“Alatau City should become the first fully digitalized city in the region,” Tokayev said, underscoring a desire for “technologies to pay for goods and services with cryptocurrency.”