⚠️ HRF CBDC ⛓️🪙 alert from HRF for Kazakhstan (29-JAN-2024)

🗝️ℹ️ (Key Information)

CBDC Status: Launched

CBDC Launch: 2023-11-15

CBDC Model: n/a

CBDC Issued: n/a

Inflation Rate: 8.04%

One-Sentence Summary:

🇰🇿 Kazakhstan collaborates with Mastercard and Visa to launch its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), amidst longstanding concerns over human rights and government corruption.

✅ On Nov 15, 2023, the 🇰🇿 National Bank officially tested its CBDC, the digital tenge, marking its entry into the launch phase already entered by countries like China and Russia.

✅ Mastercard and Visa partnered with 🇰🇿 for its CBDC, allowing it to function via a payment card usable at various points, with plans for expansion in 2024.

✅ Research and development for the CBDC began as early as May 2021 as revealed by the Digital Tenge Public Discussion Report from the 🇰🇿 National Bank.

✅ By December 2021, the central bank acknowledged the need for more research to understand CBDC implications, with the help of international institutions.

✅ The decision-making framework was published by the 🇰🇿 National Bank in July 2022, questioning the necessity, benefits, and risks of a CBDC.

✅ The 🇰🇿 National Bank published a white paper in December 2022 announcing a CBDC phased introduction with main drivers being financial inclusion, competition, and innovation.

✅ Reports shared in 2023 stress the importance of CBDCs' impact on financial stability, privacy, and the need for cooperation with the private sector.

✅ A December 2023 report revealed testing of CBDC bank cards and a school-lunch voucher system revealing the potential effectiveness of CBDCs.

✅🇰🇿's human rights record and corruption issues raise concerns, especially related to the use of CBDCs.

✅ Freedom House and Amnesty International highlight the country's issues with free speech and assemblies. CBDCs potentially worsen these by enabling government intervention in citizen finance.

✅ The pervasive corruption in 🇰🇿 raises questions about the risks and benefits of CBDCs, including potential favoritism through policies.

#CBDCs #Kazakhstan #HumanRights #GovernmentCorruption #FinancialInclusion

How that with the potential risks of state control and corruption, should the widespread adoption of CBDCs be delayed until sufficient checks and balances are in place?

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