During a press conference on Tuesday, June 7, the chairman of the Kazakh National Bank, Galymzhan Pirmatov, stated that the nation was trying to profit from the technologies that the cryptocurrency market could provide. He emphasized the attractiveness of innovation and concerned about risks to macroeconomic stability. Pirmatov did not give any details about the bank 's possible attitude towards cryptocurrencies and warned that it was too early to talk about legalization, although consultations with market participants were planned:
"THE APPROACH IS VERY SIMPLE: WE DO NOT INTEND TO IGNORE THIS MARKET. WE WANT TO MAKE THE MOST OF THE INNOVATIVE POTENTIAL THIS TECHNOLOGY MIGHT PROVIDE US. ”
Pirmatov revealed some news regarding the National Bank's Digital Currency project. According to him, the bank still intends to announce its methodology by the end of June. The final decision on the introduction of the CBDC will reportedly be taken by the end of the year accordingly. Last May 25th, the Kazakh parliament approved an amendment to the national tax code at first reading, which would tie a cryptocurrency tax tied to the prices of electricity consumed by mining entities.
Kazakhstan, one of the largest bitcoin mining markets in the world, generated $ 1.5 million in government revenue in the Q1-2022. According to a report by the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance , a significant part of the expected fees was not obtained because the government closed a large number of cryptocurrency mining companies to "ensure energy security".