The Eurasia Blockchain Fintech Group, a subsidiary of Cascadia Blockchain Group (CK.C) presented their plan to launch a crypto-exchange platform to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan at the President Youth Staff Reserve Conference today.
EBFG’s CEO Tilektes Adambekov was invited by President Tokayev to give a speech about EBFG’s plan to become the first licensed cryptocurrency exchange platform under the jurisdiction of Astana International Financial Center (“AIFC”).
“EBFG has recently received a conditional FinTech License to operate a cryptocurrency exchange and provide custodian services under the brand of Eurasia International Blockchain eXchang (“EBX”). Our next step is to continue to finalize our system design of EBX and obtain approval from the government before commencing operations in a live environment and providing services to customers. Under the leadership of Mr. Adambekov, we are confident that EBX will be ready to launch in the first half of 2020″, said Di Deng, CEO of Cascadia.
The government officials of Kazakhstan and 300 new members of the presidential youth staff reserve, selected from 13,000 candidates, attended the conference at the Ak Orda residential palace. Adambekov shared his view on development of a national cryptocurrency, and explained how blockchain and decentralized technologies in general play a key role in various sectors such as healthcare, banking, logistics and security. The president was apparently receptive to Adambekov’s speech, in fact saying that blockchain technology is of utmost importance to Kazakhstan.
“Kazakhstan is a blockchain friendly country. The Kazakh government is one of the first to announce plans of blockchain adoption in such fields as taxation, customs and cargo tracking. Our regional CEO at EBFG is one of the five finalists of the Presidential Youth Staff Reserve who was given the opportunity to speak at the conference. This shows our leadership and contribution in development in blockchain technology in Kazakhstan,” said Deng.
How could it help?
This isn’t the first time Kazakhstan has taken an interest in cryptocurrency. Former president Nursultan Nazarbayev hailed the idea of a global cryptocurrency like bitcoin to break the evolution of ‘black-marketeering, volatility and pilfering of currency’ in the country in 2017. The country’s step towards transforming themselves into a competitive world economy included the adoption of cryptocurrency, which they hoped would become its economic driving force in the coming years.
In 2017, the AIFC entered into the cryptocurrency market by signing an agreement with Maltese firm Exante, through the use of their blockchain platform, Stasis. This isn’t specifically an exchange dealing in cryptocurrency, but is actually a tokenization portal, allowing for manipulation of crypto-assets other than cryptocurrency. A year later the country launched a blockchain-based securities trading platform in 2018 to draw more people into investing.
Now the AIFC is looking to develop their own cryptocurrency exchange, and spearhead their own fiat-backed stablecoin, which as ideas go for a country like Kazakhstan, isn’t a bad one.
But Kazakhstan’s primary exports are in natural resources, and not just oil and gas, but uranium. Having a blockchain in place to handle not only supply chain issues, but transactions would be a net positive for a country like Kazakhstan.
—Joseph Morton