Kyrgyzstan launches a national stablecoin on the BNB chain
The first phase connects the National Bank with commercial banks to enable transfers, followed by the integration of the Central Treasury for social and government payments.
Kyrgyzstan launched its national stablecoin, KGST, on the BNB Chain on Friday, while confirming its plans to develop a central bank digital currency and explore the creation of a state cryptocurrency reserve.
President Sadyr Japarov announced the initiatives after a meeting of the National Council for the Development of Virtual Assets and Blockchain Technologies.
Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao attended the second council meeting in his role as a strategic advisor, a position he assumed around April 2025. Zhao confirmed that BNB would be included in the country's cryptocurrency reserve if implemented, although no official proposals have been submitted yet.
The stablecoin KGST maintains a 1:1 parity with the Kyrgyz som. Local media KG24 reported that the cryptocurrency committee must ensure its inclusion on international platforms and submit reserve proposals within two months.
President Japarov instructed the Ministry of Economy and Commerce to continue developing a legislative framework for virtual assets. The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic was ordered to initiate pilot tests of the digital som, an independent CBDC initiative from the stablecoin KGST.
The pilot program for the digital som will be developed in three phases.
The first will connect the National Bank with commercial banks to facilitate transfers, followed by integration with the Central Treasury for social and government payments. The final phase will test offline transactions and low connectivity before the national rollout.
