BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 15. A
total of 34,000 trades worth 20.5 billion tenge ($45.8 million)
were made in the Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) in
Kazakhstan in the first half of 2026, Chairman of the National Bank
of Kazakhstan Timur Suleimenov said at a government meeting.


This was announced by the government's press
service.


Another 650 trades worth 1 billion tenge ($2.2
million) were made in the first half of 2026 through new ETFs
covering three crypto assets, Suleimenov said.


According to him, Kazakhstan's digital assets market
is moving from pilot projects to licensed operations. The
Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) has received the status of an
operator of a digital financial assets platform and a digital
assets trading platform.


Three licensed operators of unsecured digital asset
exchanges are currently operating in Kazakhstan, with their
combined turnover reaching around 2 billion tenge ($4.5 million) in
the first two months. Another five companies are undergoing
licensing, Suleimenov said.


Infrastructure for the custody of digital assets is
also being developed, while opportunities to use digital assets for
payments are expanding.


"Crypto-fiat services are expanding. Non-bank payment
providers are joining the servicing of transactions. Crypto cards,
crypto QR and crypto acquiring are already available. Thus,
extensive work has been carried out in a short period and a
full-fledged market infrastructure has been formed. Its key
elements are already operational," Suleimenov said.







He added that the global digital assets market
currently has around 750 million users, with its capitalization
reaching $2.3 trillion. Stablecoin turnover amounted to $50
trillion in 2025, while the tokenized assets market has grown
12-fold over the past three years.


Kazakhstan launched a regulatory sandbox for digital
assets in 2025, with 34 projects currently being implemented across
14 areas, including stablecoins, tokenization, crypto exchanges,
custodial services and crypto-fiat services.


Since May 1, 2026, Kazakhstan has operated the
region's first comprehensive nationwide regulatory framework for
the digital assets market.


"Kazakhstan's task is to create a competitive
regulated market. Operations, liquidity and capital should be
concentrated within the country. This will help develop the
domestic financial market and attract international participants,"
Suleimenov said.


The exchange rate used for the conversion is 447.8
tenge per $1.