The Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) of Kazakhstan has initiated a pilot program allowing licensed digital asset firms to pay regulatory fees using U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins. The program, announced during the Astana Finance Days conference on September 5, 2025, operates under a multilateral memorandum of understanding.
Bybit Kazakhstan, the local entity of the global crypto exchange, is the first licensed digital asset service provider to sign on as an agent. It will facilitate on-chain payments for other AIFC participants before converting and remitting the final amount to the regulator's traditional bank account. The exchange will provide AFSA with a customized Bybit QR Pay solution and a dedicated stablecoin wallet system designed for invoicing.
Eligibility for the pilot is restricted to Digital Asset Service Providers that already hold an AFSA license to offer money services related to digital assets or operate a trading facility. AFSA CEO Evgeniya Bogdanova stated: "Stablecoins are reshaping global finance, and by accepting regulatory fees in USD-pegged stablecoins we make the AIFC faster, more open, and firmly connected to the future."
This initiative builds on groundwork laid in January 2024 when AFSA introduced a dedicated stablecoin regulatory framework, one of the first of its kind in Central Asia. Later that year, the regulator issued the country's first fiat-backed stablecoin license to AnchorX.KZ Limited. Concurrently, Kazakhstan's central bank is pursuing its own digital currency initiative, with a pilot for the digital tenge underway and full rollout slated for 2025.
