Kyrgyzstan launches national stablecoin in partnership with Binance

By Aigerim Turgunbaeva

BISHKEK, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan has launched a national stablecoin and a central bank digital currency in partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Binance, President Sadyr Japarov said on Saturday.

A mountainous former Soviet republic of around 7 million people traditionally dependent on labour migrants in Russia, Kyrgyzstan has in recent years positioned itself as a cryptocurrency leader in Central Asia.

A5A7, a stablecoin backed by the Russian rouble and based in Kyrgyzstan, has been placed under sanctions by Western governments who say it is used to facilitate avoidance of sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Changpeng Zhao, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, was appointed as an adviser on digital assets to the president of Kyrgyzstan in May.

Zhao said in a post on X on Saturday that the Kyrgyz national stablecoin had been launched on the BNB Chain and that the digital version of Kyrgyzstan's currency, the som, was ready for use in government payments.

He said a national cryptocurrency reserve had been established, which includes Binance's BNB token.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday pardoned Zhao, who had previously been convicted of money laundering-related offences.

Kyrgyzstan was traditionally the most democratic of the five former Soviet Central Asian republics, but Japarov has clamped down on dissent since coming to power on a wave of street protests in 2020.

The country is due to hold a snap parliamentary election on November 30, with allies of Japarov aiming to expand their dominance of the legislature. (Reporting by Aigerim Turgunbaeva in Bishkek, Writing by Felix Light in Tbilisi, Editing by Timothy Heritage)