Kazakhstan parks $190M of its $700M crypto reserve in funds and Bitcoin ETFs

> Kazakhstan has pushed roughly $190 million of its $700 million National Strategic Crypto Reserve into hedge funds and exchange-traded funds that offer exposure to digital assets. National Bank Deputy Governor Binur Zhalenov put the invested amount at approximately $190 million by the end of October in a Kazinform interview published Nov. 9. He described a portfolio built in stages, with each investment picked after weighing potential returns against risks.

Bloomberg's Nov. 5 report, reproduced as a terminal screenshot in Galaxy Research's coverage, splits the money further: about $100 million into crypto-focused funds and $90 million into cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin ETFs. Ege DeFi, Brevan Howard Digital and PDO were named among the fund recipients. Those figures were presented by Batur Vakhidov, head of the central bank's monetary operations department, at a conference in Almaty. Bloomberg grouped the $90 million without saying how much went to tokens versus ETF shares, and did not describe the products as spot funds.

The reserve itself was set up in December 2025 with equal contributions from the central bank's gold and foreign exchange assets and Kazakhstan's National Fund, Zhalenov said, at $350 million each. The National Investment Corporation, a wholly owned central bank subsidiary, runs the portfolio, and domestic infrastructure handles custody. That leaves $510 million of the $700 million outside the reported invested amount.

The fund-heavy route was visible early. In January, the National Investment Corporation opened an account for crypto-related investments at the Central Depository and shortlisted five unnamed hedge funds. At a March 6 briefing, Governor Timur Suleimenov laid out a selection process spanning crypto-linked technology companies, index funds and instruments tracking digital assets, Reuters reported. Deputy Chair Aliya Moldabekova said investing was expected to start in April or May, and Suleimenov has said crypto-focused venture capital funds could get allocations later.

Answering Qazinform in February, the bank ruled out budget money and named gold and foreign exchange assets, National Fund assets and other government-authorized state assets as the funding sources. It also said an annual management report would go to Kazakhstan's Council for National Fund Management. In a September 2025 statement, the bank pushed back on confusion over the Alem Crypto Fund, saying it is not state-owned and has no authority to manage sovereign reserves.

US rules add a separate layer. SEC guidance on Form 13F requires foreign managers to report once they use US interstate commerce and hold investment discretion over at least $100 million in covered securities, and government-linked investment managers can fall inside those requirements. For the third-quarter 2026 report, the SEC lists Nov. 16 as the deadline; the fourth-quarter filing is due Feb. 16, 2027.