Kyrgyzstan issues gold-backed stablecoin, names CZ adviser

Kyrgyzstan launched a state-owned stablecoin pegged to physical gold in May 2026, built a new national gold vault and added Binance founder Changpeng Zhao as an unpaid presidential adviser. The token is owned by the Ministry of Finance and has begun listing on regulated digital-asset infrastructure.

The Ministry of Finance provided roughly $100 million to purchase the gold that backs the dollar-equivalent token. The stablecoin was issued under the country’s digital asset framework and has been placed on licensed trading infrastructure to expand access to regulated markets in the region.

A second state-linked stablecoin, backed by the Kyrgyz som, was created with support from Binance and launched on BNB Smart Chain. Both projects operate under the country’s virtual asset authorities and national councils for digital assets.

Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, holds a Kyrgyz passport and serves as an unpaid adviser to the president. He participates in national digital-asset councils that provide guidance on policy and project development. Civic and private partners, including Binance, are working with authorities to issue tokenized products and to test banking and custody arrangements.

Arsen Edilbek uulu, co-founder of KYTLABS and head of fintech consulting in Kyrgyzstan, described the new vault as a local version of “Fort Knox.” He said the facility was built with capacity to hold reserves for neighboring countries and that Kyrgyzstan’s own gold and foreign-exchange reserves would occupy less than 10% of the space.

Officials have said the government plans legal and operational mechanisms for crypto companies, and is preparing amendments to banking law to allow banks to interact directly with virtual assets and act as custodians. Consultants involved with the program note licensing and operational costs for virtual asset service providers in major hubs can exceed $1 million per year; Kyrgyz fees are described as several dozen times lower.

Some local banks already offer crypto purchases through mobile apps by partnering with third-party crypto providers. In those arrangements, the bank transfers customer identity and KYC information to a partner that then opens a crypto account for the user. About three banks currently provide app-based crypto purchases, and several banks are developing crypto-linked cards inside a central bank regulatory sandbox.

Officials cite practical uses for stablecoins in trade and travel. Residents use Tether (USDT) for cross-border payments and to carry value while traveling. Kyrgyzstan’s domestic payment system, Elkart, is being linked with a major Chinese platform, a step officials say could broaden payments access across Asian markets.

The vault and token framework are intended to support real-world-asset projects: foreign entities could store gold in Kyrgyzstan and issue tokens backed by those reserves under the national regulatory framework. Kyrgyzstan has also issued a recent dollar-denominated bond and officials have indicated further debt offerings are possible as the government builds regulated digital-asset infrastructure to attract tokenization activity.