Kyrgyzstan has launched a national stablecoin and a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Binance, President Sadyr Japarov announced on Saturday (October 25).
According to Reuters, the mountainous Central Asian nation of around seven million people, long reliant on labour migrants in Russia, has in recent years sought to position itself as a regional leader in cryptocurrency innovation.
Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, was appointed as an adviser on digital assets to the Kyrgyz president in May.
In a post on X on Saturday, Zhao said the Kyrgyz national stablecoin had been launched on the BNB Chain, and that the digital version of the country’s currency, the som, was ready for use in government payments.
He added that a national cryptocurrency reserve had been created, which includes Binance’s BNB token.
US President Donald Trump on Friday (October 24) pardoned Zhao, who had previously been convicted of money laundering-related offences.
Once considered the most democratic of the five former Soviet Central Asian republics, Kyrgyzstan has seen tighter restrictions on dissent since Japarov rose to power following street protests in 2020.
The country is set to hold a snap parliamentary election on November 30, with Japarov’s allies seeking to strengthen their control of the legislature.
Featured image credit, edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Rawf8.com via Freepik
