Stablecoins to become a legal means of payment in Uzbekistan next year.

The government of Uzbekistan is going to recognize stablecoins as a means of payment at the start of the new year, albeit within a dedicated legal regime initially.

Also on the first day of 2026, domestic companies will be authorized to issue tokenized stocks and securities, the Central Asian nation announced amid a flurry of recent regulatory developments concerning the region’s growing crypto space.

Uzbekistan to test stablecoins for payments

A special legal regime allowing the use of stablecoins in payments will be introduced by Uzbekistan on January 1, 2026, regional media reported, quoting the country’s Ministry of Justice.

On Friday, the department took to Telegram to announce the move, based on a resolution issued by the country’s long-term leader, the Russian economic daily Vedomosti noticed.

The exact procedure for setting up the “regulatory sandbox” as well as its “term of validity” will be determined by the National Agency of Perspective Projects (NAPP) and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan (CBU), the press release further detailed.

The NAPP reports directly to the head of state. It oversees the country’s capital market, insurance industry, and e-commerce sector. The agency is also responsible for crypto regulation and licensing.

According to the justice ministry’s Telegram post, also quoted by Sputnik Uzbekistan, pilot projects will be launched with the aim of developing a payment system operating on the basis of distributed ledger technology (DLT).

Furthermore, legal entities registered in Uzbekistan will be allowed to issue tokenized shares and bonds. A new platform will be set up to facilitate their placement and trading on licensed stock exchanges.

By the end of the year, the executive power in Tashkent also intends to introduce an “open banking” system to ensure data exchange between banks, payment processors, and fintech firms.

Central Asian states seem serious about regulating crypto

The Uzbek Ministry of Justice informed about the regulatory move after Thursday, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree “On measures for the further development of financial technology in Uzbekistan,” RBC noted.

The document seeks to increase the number of companies participating in Uzbekistan’s nascent fintech market to 200. The policy will be financed by a $50 million venture fund established by the country’s monetary authority.

Uzbek officials also hope to attract up to $1 billion in foreign investments over the course of five years, the Russian business news outlet added.

The stablecoin legalization also follows a statement by CBU Governor Timur Ishmetov in September, announcing that options to issue a digital version of the national currency, the Uzbekistani sum, and stablecoins were being discussed. At the time, he insisted that both should be tested.

Fiat-pegged digital currencies are enjoying a growing popularity in the region, which has been taking active steps to regulate its crypto space.

In October, Kyrgyzstan launched a gold-backed, U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin called USDKG. The nation is already home to the issuing entity of the leading non-dollar stablecoin, the sanctioned Russian ruble-denominated A7A5.

Earlier in November, the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, signed a law regulating the circulation of digital coins in his country and lifting previous restrictions on crypto mining.

Again on Friday, Turkmenistan’s President Serdar Berdimuhamedov signed a “law on virtual assets,” which legalizes mining and exchange operations, regulating a range of crypto-related activities.

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