Turan Research Center

In October 2025, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, together with Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) — who was appointed as a presidential adviser on digital assets — announced the launch of the national stablecoin KGST, the legal recognition of the digital som (CBDC), and plans for a state cryptocurrency reserve. Officials argue that these initiatives will modernize the financial system, reduce remittance costs, and position Kyrgyzstan as an innovative player in Central Asia. 

In 2025, cryptocurrency transactions processed through licensed operators in Kyrgyzstan reached an estimated $20.5-32 billion — roughly two to three times the country’s entire GDP of about $14 billion. Official data from the Financial Market Regulation and Supervision Service records a total turnover of 2.73 trillion Kyrgyz som across more than 2.1 million transactions. The overwhelming majority of these operations consisted of simple currency exchanges rather than investments or sophisticated decentralized finance (DeFi) products.

Read the full article on The Diplomat.

Aigerim Turgunbaeva is a Research Fellow at the Turan Research Center.