Tether has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the Alatau City Authority. The agreement focuses on exploring the creation of a tenge-pegged stablecoin and developing tokenized assets within the Alatau smart city project.
The parties plan to study international stablecoin issuance practices to develop a concept and pilot proposal. Regarding tokenization, the collaboration aims to select priority asset categories and potentially utilize Tether’s Hadron platform, which was launched in November 2024.
The memorandum includes educational workshops for central bank staff covering token issuance, reserve management, and asset tokenization. Alatau, a planned smart city in the Almaty region, is positioned as a fintech hub with a $7,2 billion budget and a target population of two million residents.
Kazakhstan maintains active crypto initiatives, including the Evo stablecoin pilot launched in September 2025. Additionally, the National Bank has announced plans to tokenize two properties in Alatau, valued at up to $50 million and $10 million, by the end of 2026.
The National Bank has previously allocated up to $350 million for crypto-related investments from its reserves. As of September, the national crypto reserve reached $700 million, with $200 million already deployed primarily through hedge funds.
