As the government of Kazakhstan catches up with the tremendous volume of cryptocurrency mining in the country by introducing new taxes and regulations, the local central bank intends to explore the possibilities offered by cryptocurrencies.
During the press conference held on Tuesday, June 7, the President of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, Galymzhan Pirmatov stated that the nation intends to extract the benefit of the technologies that the cryptocurrency market could provide. He highlighted the attractiveness of innovations and made reservations about risks to macroeconomic stability. The official does not believe that the bank is late for the game:
“I don’t think the National Bank is a newcomer. Like many other banks and financial regulators around the world, we are closely watching and investigating the issue.”
Pirmatov did not disclose any details about the bank’s possible stance on cryptocurrencies and warned that it is too early to talk about legalization, although consultations with market participants are planned:
“The approach is very simple: we are not going to ignore this market. We want to extract the maximum benefit from the innovative potential that these technologies give us.”
The executive also revealed some news about the Banco Nacional (CBDC) digital currency project. According to him, the bank still intends to announce its methodology on digital tenge at the end of June. The final decision on the implementation of the CBDC will apparently be made, according to that methodology, before the end of the year.
On May 25, the Kazakh parliament approved the amendments to the national tax code in the first reading. The amendments would impose a crypto mining tax linked to the prices of electricity consumed by mining entities. One of the largest mining markets in the world, Kazakhstan generated just $1.5 million in state revenue from mining in the first quarter of 2022. According to the report by the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance, a significant amount of the expected fees has not been received as the government had shut down a large number of digital mining companies to “ensure energy security.”
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