Kazakhstan is preparing a large-scale reform in the regulation and management of digital assets. The National Bank, together with the government and law enforcement agencies, is working on a model for creating a National Strategic Crypto Reserve. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The National Bank, the General Prosecutor's Office, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan responded to an official inquiry from Kursiv, revealing how the state intends to store, protect, and use digital millions confiscated from cybercriminals and drug traffickers.
According to Kursiv, the Department of Payment Systems and Digital Financial Technologies of the National Bank is currently examining various models for integrating confiscated cryptocurrency into the country's economy.
"The National Bank, together with state bodies, is considering various models for confiscating digital assets obtained from criminal activity, including mechanisms for their seizure, storage, and management within the framework of the National Strategic Crypto Reserve, with the organization of an appropriate crypto-custodial service by the Central Securities Depository," the National Bank reported.
This effectively means that the Central Securities Depository of Kazakhstan could become an official "state crypto bank," administering wallets with seized bitcoins, ethereums, and stablecoins, protecting them from hacker attacks and loss of access.
The General Prosecutor's Office also confirmed that the regulator is currently "working on the issue of creating a state crypto reserve."
While the unified crypto reserve is still under development, Kazakh law enforcement agencies are forced to improvise. The Ministry of Internal Affairs officially disclosed for the first time the mechanism for physically seizing cryptocurrency from criminals.
It turns out that law enforcement agencies already have specialized digital addresses.
"Seizure and transfer of cryptocurrency assets to an official crypto wallet is carried out based on a procedural decision of the person conducting the pre-trial investigation," the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs explained.
The further fate of these assets — their valuation, storage after a court verdict, and subsequent sale (conversion into fiat tenge) — is to be handled by the Committee of State Property and Privatization of the Ministry of Finance.
Despite the openness of the agencies on technical issues, the financial side of confiscations remains a secret. No agency could provide statistics on the exact amount of seized digital assets for the period 2023-2026.
The state agencies engaged in a classic bureaucratic game of hot potato. The National Bank stated that it does not keep records of seized assets and referred the inquiry to law enforcement. The Ministry of Internal Affairs said that all statistics are collected by the Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Accounts of the General Prosecutor's Office. The General Prosecutor's Office, in its response, recommended contacting the National Bank and the Ministry of Finance.
Kursiv is preparing repeated requests to the Committee and the Ministry of Finance to find out what volumes of cryptocurrency are actually on "official wallets" in Kazakhstan and at what rate they will be converted into state budget revenue.
Recall that during the investigation of Kyzdar.net, 144 million tenge in cash, more than 1.3 million dollars (including over 300 thousand dollars in cryptocurrency), weapons with ammunition, and about 150 pieces of equipment were seized from the owners.