Kazakhstan pushes to establish a 'US$1 billion' virtual asset reserve fund by next year
Summary
- The Kazakh government said it is seeking to establish a virtual asset reserve fund of up to US$1 billion using seized assets and revenues from state-owned mining operations.
- The reserve fund will focus on virtual asset-related ETFs and investments in cryptocurrency companies, rather than directly holding tokens such as Bitcoin.
- This move is seen as a concrete realization of the national cryptocurrency institutionalization strategy, and it is assessed that investors should pay attention to Kazakhstan's policy changes.
The Kazakh government plans to create a national virtual asset reserve fund of up to US$1 billion using seized assets.
On the 7th (local time), Bloomberg reported that the reserve fund aims to launch in early 2026, and the funds will be sourced from illegally recovered assets domestically and abroad and revenues from state-owned mining operations.
The fund will not directly hold tokens such as Bitcoin, but plans to focus on virtual asset-related exchange-traded funds (ETF) and investments in cryptocurrency companies.
This move is seen as a concretization of the national-level cryptocurrency institutionalization strategy that the Kazakh government has been pursuing for several years. The government has been test-operating state-owned mining operations and tightening regulations on private mining companies.
Earlier in mid-2024, the Kazakhstan Financial Supervision Agency announced plans to establish a national cryptocurrency reserve fund, saying "it will convert illegally acquired or seized digital assets into a national reserve form to strengthen economic sovereignty."
Son Min
sonmin@bloomingbit.ioHello I’m Son Min, a journalist at BloomingBit
