Eurasian Bank launches Digital Tenge Card in preparation for Kazakhstan’s CBDC

Eurasian Bank collaborates with Mastercard to launch Digital Tenge Card, facilitating purchases with Kazakhstan’s central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The debit card seamlessly converts funds to traditional Tenge during in-store and online transactions.
Merchants benefit as the card doesn’t require infrastructure updates, and spending is protected by Mastercard’s fraud and security guarantee.
Launched on the 30th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s national currency, the card is part of the National Bank’s Digital Tenge project.
The Digital Tenge project began with a pilot in June 2021, testing technical feasibility, and progressed to real-world testing in 2022.
Eurasian Bank, a registered anchor partner, has been actively cooperating with the central bank for years.
The next phase may involve wallet openings, QR transfers, and loyalty program tokenization.
The debit card is launched ahead of the planned public issuance of the digital currency in late 2025.
Mastercard’s network is chosen, offering 100 million acceptance points globally, aligning with the CBDC Partner Programme launched in August 2022.
The CBDC Partner Programme involves key players like Ripple, Consensys, Fluency, Idemia, Fireblocks, and Giesecke+Devrient, aiming to understand and implement CBDCs.