National Bank of Kazakhstan could invest gold, currency reserves and assets of National Fund in cryptocurrencies

ASTANA. July 11 (Interfax) - The National Bank of Kazakhstan is thinking of investing the assets from the alternative portfolio of the republic's gold and currency reserves and from the National Fund into cryptocurrency funds, the head of the central bank, Timur Suleimenov, said at a briefing on Friday.

"We have an alternative portfolio within the gold and currency reserves and the National Fund to which we apply a more aggressive approach to achieve higher returns. We do not rule out allocating a portion of this alternative portfolio to funds linked to the cryptocurrency industry. This is a rather sensitive issue and we are not going to rush. There is high potential return there but also high volatility. We are currently looking into such a possibility," Suleimenov said.

He said that the National Bank had reviewed international practices of sovereign wealth funds investing in crypto assets, either directly or through ETFs and in the shares of crypto-related companies.

"Their investments are small - less than 1%. No final decision about such investment has been made yet. We are studying international practices, which are rather limited because it is quite a new financial instrument and sovereign wealth funds are very cautious about using it," Suleimenov said.