CMC News

Kyrgyzstan Launches National Stablecoin on BNB Chain

#Kyrgyzstan launched its national stablecoin KGST on #BNB Chain# Friday, while confirming plans to develop a central bank digital currency and explore establishing a state #cryptocurrency reserve. President Sadyr Japarov announced the initiatives following a meeting of the National Council for the Development of Virtual Assets and Blockchain Technologies.

Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao attended the council's second meeting in his role as strategic adviser, a position he assumed around April 2025. Zhao confirmed that $BNB would be included in the country's crypto reserve if implemented, though official proposals have not yet been submitted.

The KGST stablecoin maintains a 1:1 peg with the Kyrgyzstani som. Local media outlet KG24 reported that the crypto committee must secure listings on international platforms and submit reserve proposals within two months.

President Japarov instructed the Ministry of Economy and Commerce to continue developing a legislative framework for virtual assets. The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic was directed to begin pilot testing of the digital som, a separate #CBDC initiative from the KGST #stablecoin.

The digital som pilot will proceed in three phases. The first phase connects the National Bank with commercial banks to enable transfers, followed by Central Treasury integration for social and government payments. The final phase will test offline and low-connectivity transactions before national deployment.

Build Block TECH partnered with the National Bank to develop the CBDC platform. The bank stated the platform will be scaled nationally after successfully completing all three pilot phases. The National Bank previously indicated it would not decide on CBDC issuance until the end of 2026.