Almaty, February 3, 2023 - Binance and the National Bank of Kazakhstan today presented a bilateral report on the current state of the digital asset industry and DeFi in Central Asia. The report was presented at the “Digital Almaty 2023” forum.
The forum was attended by Binur Zhalenov, Director of the National Bank’s Center for Development of Payments and Financial Technologies, Olga Goncharova, Director of Government Relations of Binance CIS, and Zhaslan Madiyev, General Manager of Binance Kazakhstan.
The joint report analyzes the adoption of cryptocurrencies, the overall development trends of DeFi, and the local digital asset industry. In addition, it also introduces the regulatory environment in CIS countries and the main trends that require close regulatory monitoring.
The key to regulation is to invest in the appropriate skills and technologies to understand the challenges/opportunities brought by DeFi, including the source of data used by oracles to support smart contracts and the irrational behavior of users.
Currently, Binance and the National Bank of Kazakhstan are working together to overcome key challenges common in the crypto space. From the perception gap of decentralization to cross-jurisdictional disputes, the two parties aim to jointly resolve these inconsistencies.
“Traditional finance and decentralized finance should coexist and develop together to provide better financial infrastructure. Through synergy, they will surely jointly meet consumers’ demands for more inclusive, economical, convenient and faster services.
Regulators should work with industry representatives and traditional financial intermediaries to jointly develop the “rules of the game” for DeFi regulation. It needs to focus on developing a flexible framework. It must also “cast a wide net” to account for the rapid development of technology while also considering transparency, governance, and accountability. ” - Olga Goncharova, Director of Government Relations, CIS, Binance.
“We believe that blockchain technology and Kazakhstan have a lot to offer in this new market. We have seen many opportunities arising from the synergy between traditional and decentralized finance, regulators and markets. We will also work to create a healthy and balanced regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies and digital assets to safeguard their innovative potential.
At the same time, we have to protect consumer rights and maintain macro-financial stability. All in all, we hope that the report will provide a useful framework to stimulate cooperation between regulators and the market on blockchain and decentralized finance." - Binur Zhalenov, Chairman of the Center for Development of Payment and Financial Technologies at the National Bank of Kazakhstan.
The joint report highlights the importance of financial and digital literacy to reduce risk. It also calls for developing expertise among regulators and law enforcement agencies to build capacity for regulatory design and further supervision.
In his welcome speech, Binance CEO and co-founder Changpeng Zhao said:
“Looking around the world, we recognize that Kazakhstan has great potential to become a regional crypto hub. Kazakhstan’s digital tenge central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative is the most developed CBDC initiative in the world. Binance is glad that the CBDC has been integrated and tested in the BNB Chain environment to assist in the implementation of the CBDC. We hope that it will further help bridge the gap between traditional banks and the crypto ecosystem.”
Further reading
Central Asia Digital Asset Industry and DeFi Status Report
Binance and Kazakhstan government agencies work together to launch blockchain education projects
Binance receives preliminary operational approval from Kazakhstan regulators
Binance and Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development sign Memorandum of Understanding