Alem Crypto Fund – a strategic move
The Alem Crypto Fund was established by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, managed by Qazaqstan Venture Group, and supervised by the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). The fund aims to accumulate digital assets for long-term reserves, beginning with the purchase of BNB, the flagship token of the Binance ecosystem, via Binance Kazakhstan – a licensed subsidiary since June 2023.
So far, the government has not disclosed how much BNB it plans to hold.
Kazakhstan’s crypto journey began in 2022, when former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao signed an MoU with the Ministry of Digital Development to help build a regulatory framework. Just days before the fund’s debut, the country also introduced KZTE, a tenge-backed stablecoin on Solana, in partnership with Mastercard, Intebix, and Eurasian Bank.
Ambition to become a digital asset powerhouse
Once known as the world’s “Bitcoin mining hub,” Kazakhstan, with a population of 20 million, is shifting from mining to actively managing and expanding its digital asset ecosystem. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has outlined a clear roadmap:
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2024: tighten and enhance transparency of the regulatory framework, shutting down 36 illegal exchanges.
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May 2025: launch CryptoCity, a pilot zone for crypto payments.
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September 2025: push for a national crypto treasury and a comprehensive digital asset ecosystem with full regulations in place by 2026.
Beyond regulation, Kazakhstan is pursuing broader strategies: becoming a “global blockchain gateway” as China selected the country to issue the cross-border stablecoin AxCNH; channeling $30 million via Qazaqstan Investment Corporation into Alem Ventures Fund to support startups and innovation; and developing Alem.AI, featuring a Kazakh-language LLM and a national supercomputing cluster, integrating AI with blockchain under its digital transformation agenda.
A global trend
The creation of Alem Crypto Fund aligns Kazakhstan with a growing global trend where nations are incorporating crypto into their treasury strategies:
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El Salvador (2021): the first country to launch a Bitcoin reserve fund and adopt BTC as legal tender.
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Bhutan: has quietly accumulated Bitcoin since 2019 through state-backed mining.
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Brazil: studying the feasibility of a sovereign digital asset reserve.
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Indonesia: launched a national crypto exchange and formed a dedicated Crypto Asset Committee.
With these bold steps, Kazakhstan is signaling its ambition not only to move beyond Bitcoin mining but also to position itself as a global leader in managing, reserving, and developing digital assets.
