Kazakhstan to Integrate its Digital Tenge into the BNB Chain

The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) is set to integrate its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) dubbed the Digital Tenge into the BNB Chain ecosystem. 

Taking to Twitter to announce the news, Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Binance Exchange said its efforts to drive the mainstream adoption of digital currencies were not halted when it secured the license to operate in Kazakhstan about 2 weeks ago.

With Central Bank Digital Currencies now a big push for apex monetary authorities around the world, Kazakhstan has made a significant milestone with its Digital Tenge by launching its pilot test in a controlled environment with real users and merchants. 

According to Zhao, the affirmations on the integration came from the successful negotiations with the First Deputy of the Governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, Berik Sholpankulov, and the Head of the Payment and Technological Center, Binur Zhalenov.

“We introduced them to the #BNB Chain community to discuss testing integrating their CBDC (Digital Tenge) with @BNBCHAIN, “ Zhao said in the short Twitter thread.

The crypto veteran did not give any elaborate indications as to how and what the Kazakhstani Central Bank will do or by how far innovators and builders in the BNB Chain ecosystem will launch real-world use cases featuring the Digital Tenge. Zhao also noted that he is eager to see how things will shape up per the proposed integration in the near term.

“Looking forward to NBK preparing CBDC use cases to see how they could be integrated into #BNB Chain to bridge the gap between traditional banking and the crypto ecosystem,” he said.

Binance’s global expansionary drive has recognized Kazakhstan as being very strategic in the long term. From the meeting between the country’s President Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to landing its license, Binance has remained glued to the prospect the country’s digital transformation push can offer its ecosystem users.