The chairman of Kazakhstan’s National Payment Corporation (NPC), Binur Zhalenov, has made the first transaction with the country’s new central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital tenge. During his speech at the XI Congress of Finance in Almaty on Nov. 15, he paid with a debit card tied to the CBDC account, according to local outlet, Kapital.kz.
Zhalenov unveiled the official launch of the digital tenge on Kazakhstan’s retail market today, promising the “massive platform’s development” in 2024. According to the official, Kazakhstan collaborated with Visa (NYSE:) and Mastercard (NYSE:), as well as local banks, to integrate the CBDC into plastic cards:
