Uzbekistan plans to introduce retail stablecoins in 2026 through licensed financial institutions. A wholesale CBDC will act as the reserve asset backing those stablecoins 1:1 for banks and fintech firms. The country will also tokenize real-world assets and launch an open-banking system as part of a broader digital-finance overhaul.
Digital Payment Framework
Officials have developed a framework that separates digital payments for citizens from digital settlement for banks. In simple terms: the public will use stablecoins, while the financial sector will rely on a CBDC to anchor those stablecoins 1:1.
This structure is unusual in global policy circles. Some governments are pushing CBDCs to replace stablecoins. Others support stablecoins and ignore CBDCs. Uzbekistan appears to be the first to clearly state that both will coexist — and intentionally complement each other.
Retail Stablecoins and CBDC Implementation
The rollout begins in January 2026, when private and state-regulated institutions will be allowed to develop stablecoins inside a controlled sandbox environment. Only verified companies — not anonymous issuers — will be able to create and operate them.
Every stablecoin must be backed using the CBDC held by banks and fintech firms, making the digital currency issued by the Central Bank a reserve asset rather than a public payment instrument.
That means citizens won’t interact with the CBDC directly; they will use stablecoins built on top of it.
Tokenized Finance and Open Banking
Digital payments are only one part of the transformation. Uzbekistan intends to overhaul capital markets as well by tokenizing real-world assets beginning in 2026. Shares, bonds, and other traditional instruments will be issued and traded on-chain.
Licensed stock exchanges have already been tasked with creating a separate marketplace for tokenized assets, scheduled to launch early 2025 — a full year before retail stablecoins enter the economy. An open-banking framework is also coming by September 2026, enabling secure data exchange between banks and fintech providers.
Driving Factors for Rapid Adoption
Stablecoin demand in Uzbekistan did not originate from regulators — it came from users. Crypto adoption across Asia has surged sharply over the past year, and Uzbekistan has been part of that wave. Chainalysis recently recorded regional crypto activity rising from $1.4 trillion to $2.36 trillion in 12 months, with stablecoins driving much of the increase.
Globally, stablecoins have become a $310 billion market, accelerated by regulatory clarity in the United States through the GENIUS Act. The dollar’s global dominance has strengthened partly because of USD-denominated stablecoins, and Uzbekistan appears to be positioning itself to participate in that digital-settlement network instead of competing with it.