The subsidiary of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, the 'National Investment Corporation' (NIC), received $350 million from the country's gold and foreign exchange reserves for crypto investments, announced the Deputy Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, Aliya Moldabekova.

A special account has been opened in the Central Depository for the future crypto reserve, the official said at the Annual Business Review event. According to her, NIC does not intend to purchase cryptocurrency directly. The structure of the National Bank plans to invest funds through five unnamed hedge funds and eventually wants to enter the capital of venture funds. The sources of investment will be the National Fund, where revenues from the sale of oil and gas flow.

A digital currency seized by law enforcement agencies will also be declared part of the crypto reserve, said the head of the National Bank, Timur Suleimenov. The crypto reserve will be included in the total sovereign reserves of Kazakhstan, managed by the Central Bank, Suleimenov said.

The first Kazakhstani company to announce the creation of its own bitcoin reserve was Qazaqstan Venture Group. It registered the Alem Crypto fund at the Astana International Financial Center. The company is directly linked to the authorities of the republic: its founder is the Autonomous Cluster Fund 'Park of Innovative Technologies' (Astana Hub), established by the government of Kazakhstan.

In the fall, the National Bank approved the issuance of a backed tenge stablecoin. This is a project on the Solana blockchain, implemented by the Eurasian Bank and the company Intebix.

In mid-January, the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, lifted some restrictions on mining and the circulation of cryptocurrencies. In particular, the list of individuals who can mine digital currency has been expanded.