Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, tweeted today to congratulate Zhaslan Madiev, Binance’s General Manager in Kazakhstan, on his recent appointment as the Minister of Digital Development in Kazakhstan.
In addition, Kazakhstan announced a pilot project for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in November last year, with plans to fully implement it by the end of 2025. This initiative aims to expand services, usage scenarios, and platform participation.
It is worth mentioning that Zhao Changpeng (CZ), former CEO of Binance, stated in a tweet in 2022 that the Kazakhstani central bank would integrate and test the digital tenge, the CBDC, on the BNB Chain. Furthermore, Binance obtained a permanent license from the Kazakhstan Financial Supervisory Authority (AFSA) two weeks before CZ’s tweet.
Apart from the CBDC implementation, the Kazakhstani Senate passed the “Kazakhstan Digital Assets Law” last year, which regulates cryptocurrency trading and establishes specialized business licenses for cryptocurrency miners and exchanges. This move signifies Kazakhstan’s efforts to create a regulatory framework and conditions for the domestic cryptocurrency ecosystem.
On the other hand, Kazakhstan has become a popular destination for cryptocurrency miners due to its low electricity costs. However, since the beginning of last year, Kazakhstan has increased electricity taxes for cryptocurrency miners, leading to concerns that miners may relocate to other countries. Nevertheless, according to data from The Chain Bulletin, Kazakhstan currently contributes 13.22% of the global Bitcoin mining hash rate, ranking third in the world after the United States (37.84%) and China (21.11%). This indicates that miners have not been deterred by the increase in electricity taxes.
Bitcoin Mining Hash Rate Map source: The Chain Bulletin
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