Kazakhstan Plans to Allow Stablecoin Payments for Cross-Border Transactions

Kazakhstan is preparing to let businesses and government bodies use stablecoins for cross-border payments, after President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree on “measures to stimulate and develop the digital assets industry.” For PSPs and merchants operating in high-risk verticals, the important part is not the slogan — it is that the state is sketching out a regulated rails story for export-import flows.

1. The decree says work is under way on mechanisms for using cryptoassets in payments, which would open “additional channels for export-import operations” for Kazakhstan. That is the clearest line in the text: stablecoins are being discussed not as a trading toy, but as a payment instrument for cross-border commerce.
2. The authorities also want to create conditions for the voluntary disclosure of digital assets that were previously held on foreign unregulated platforms. The stated goal is to move these assets to “platforms of domestic providers,” which tells you where the government would prefer custody and flow control to sit.
3. To pull users into the regulated stack, the decree promises tax incentives. Individuals would be exempt from personal income tax on income from crypto transactions conducted through Kazakhstan’s state-regulated infrastructure.
4. The same decree places a limit on mining using so-called associated gas, the mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons dissolved in oil or natural gas and released during extraction. Tokayev’s text allows that resource to be used for cryptoasset mining only if it is “not required to meet state needs.”
5. The decree was prepared by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, the National Bank, and the managers of the Astana International Financial Centre, a special economic zone where all miners and crypto companies operating in Kazakhstan are required to register. In April, the authorities said several foreign crypto exchanges were operating in the country illegally and demanded that OKX, HTX, Bitget and MEXC obtain a license from the Astana International Financial Centre’s Financial Services Regulatory Committee (AFSA).

For payment providers, the useful signal is that Kazakhstan is trying to push crypto activity into domestic, licensed infrastructure while keeping a regulator’s hand on cross-border flows. That combination tends to matter more than the headline itself.