Kazakhstan plans to launch “cryptocity,” a pilot zone where cryptocurrencies can be used to pay for goods and services, country president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said. According to a May 29 announcement on the President’s official website.
Speaking At the Astana International Forum 2025, Tokayev said the pilot zone would be used to explore cryptocurrency adoption within a regulated sandbox environment.
“We are planning to create a pirate pilot zone called cryptocity where cryptocurrencies can be used for the purchase of goods, services, and even,” he said in his statements, a transcript which has been published on the President’s official website.
Many Crypto -related announcements recently emerged from Kazakhstan. Kanysh Tuleushin, the country’s first vice minister of digital development, this month Kazakhstan said the potentially to be a leading crypto hub In Central Asia if regulation restrictions are eased. In 2024 Kazakhstan launched a pilot project with the Central Bank Digital Currency, which has been reported Reduced wait in tax refund added Hours.
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Why build a cryptocity in Alatau?
A May 29 report of local news outlet Tengri News cited Kazakhstan’s digital development minister Zhaslan Madiyev saying “the government and regulators are currently working together to determine the most appropriate location.” A city is under serious consideration.
“Of course, the most promising place for cryptocity is the new city of Alatau – this is the president’s initiative,” he said.
Alatau is a settlement relatively close to the southeastern border of Kazakhstan. It was established in 1957 as an unnamed negotiation for the Institute of Nuclear Physics and their workers and homes the Institute of Nuclear Physics, the Kazakhstan National Nuclear Center, with an experimental nuclear reactor and Cyclotron, and the Physics and Technology Institute.
In addition to serving as Kazakhstan’s research hub, Alatau has posted a special economic zone known as Innovation Technology Park. As such, regulators may feel that adding another to the mix is a natural step that can result in synergies that can attract additional capital. Madiyev lightens with how ubiquitous crypto is in place:
“The concept is that cryptocurrency will be used as a payment method – to pay for restaurants, cafes, buy real estate, make investments. I believe this may be a major success for the blockchain industry.”
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Kazakhstan’s bets in Crypto
Madiyev expressed his hope that the project would attract developers, programmers and IT specialists in Kazakhstan, thus strengthening local economic growth.
While it was noted that the focus was on working in the framework of regulation, “the city itself was under development,” he said, noticing that “cryptocity indicates free cryptocurrency circulation, crypto-friendly law and crypto as a legitimate payment form.”
“These conditions need to be shown in law,” he added.
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