The National Agency for Precious Metals and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan outlined approaches to stablecoins.

The National Agency for Prospective Projects of Uzbekistan (NAPP) and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan have defined their approaches to stablecoins.

The National Agency for Prospective Projects of Uzbekistan (NAPP) is developing regulations for the tokenization of bonds and shares and is implementing pilot projects for the use of stablecoins as a means of payment. At the same time, the Central Bank of Uzbekistan outlined its priorities for working with private issuers of digital financial instruments. These statements were made by participants in the session "The Frontier, Continued: Tokenization & Stablecoins" at the Silk Road Finance and Technology Forum, which took place in Tashkent on August 25.

The session was moderated by Peter Gassmann, Senior Partner at PwC Strategy&. Opening the discussion, he clarified the differences between three closely related, but not identical, concepts.

According to Gassmann, a stablecoin is issued by a private company that maintains reserves and undertakes to return funds to the token holder upon demand. A tokenized asset represents a record of ownership of an asset, whether a bond, fund, or other property. The token itself is merely a shell, while the nature of the underlying asset is key. Unlike the two previous concepts, a central bank digital currency is sovereign money with the same settlement finality as modern money issued by the central bank, but using different settlement methods and technologies.

Vyacheslav Pak, First Deputy Director of the National Agency for Precious Metals and Metals (NAPP), stated that the agency, together with the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, is one of the two key financial services regulators in the country and is responsible for regulating the circulation of cryptoassets. Among its current priorities, the NAPP also plans to create a new blockchain-based payment system. He emphasized that effective regulation requires a fundamental understanding of blockchain technology itself, as the same technology can be used to issue stablecoins, tokenize assets, or ensure data integrity, and the required regulation depends on the chosen application. He also noted that no country in the world has yet developed a fully-functioning regulatory system for the tokenization of securities, citing among the unresolved issues the protection of the rights of holders of tokenized shares, including voting rights and participation in corporate governance.

Samijon Inogamov, Director of the Monetary Policy Department of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, reported that the volume of remittances into the country in the first half of 2026 reached $9.3 billion, with more than half of this amount received directly on bank cards.

According to him, the country adheres to an inflation targeting regime with a target of 5 percent, and from a monetary policy perspective, the key question is not which payment technology will become widespread, but whether it changes people's behavior in terms of savings, borrowing, and currency choice. He noted that the stablecoin market in the country is only just beginning to emerge, while the demand for fast cross-border payments is already largely met by the existing infrastructure within the regulatory perimeter.

Speaking about requirements for private stablecoin issuers, Inogamov identified two priorities: aggregated wallet-level flow data—how much funds have moved, in what currency, and what proportion is held rather than spent—as well as reporting on reserves for tokens circulating both domestically and internationally.

Mu Changchun, Director General of the People's Bank of China's Digital Currency Institute, presented data from the regulator's internal monitoring platform, which tracks 16 public blockchains and 36 stablecoins. Of the approximately $60 trillion in on-chain transfers analyzed last year, $8.5 trillion was accounted for by internal redistribution of funds between entities within the same organizations, $11.1 trillion was accounted for by splitting transactions within protocols, and $16.3 trillion was accounted for by arbitrage transactions. Thus, the volume of real economic activity amounted to approximately $25 trillion, but transactions with genuine payment purposes accounted for less than one percent of the total.

According to Mu Changchun, the choice between a central bank digital currency and stablecoins typically depends on the specifics of a particular jurisdiction: countries with capital controls more often opt for a digital fiat currency, while jurisdictions with deeper capital markets—for example, the United States—more often opt for stablecoins. He emphasized the need for a unified regulatory framework for the industry based on the principle of "same business—same risk—same rules," supported by cross-border regulatory coordination. He also noted that virtual currencies are not legal tender in China, and their exchange and insurance are prohibited.

Pavel Khristolyubov, COO of Wallet in Telegram, noted that the crypto industry has evolved from individual enthusiasts operating outside the traditional financial system to institutional acceptance, and that much of the current regulatory discussion is focused on the wholesale and institutional adoption levels.

He argued that the next step should be broader adoption at the retail level, which remains in its early stages, and that regulators need to test approaches through regulatory sandboxes and data collection rather than immediately imposing strict regulations. Among his future aspirations, he named the transformation of stablecoins into a fully-fledged element of the payment infrastructure at the "last mile" level—the segment that directly impacts the accessibility and transparency of the instrument for the end user.

Rajesh Sabari, Chief Commercial Officer at Liminal Custody, whose organization annually processes over $100 billion in cross-border transactions involving stablecoins and tokenized assets, noted that the main unresolved issue remains currency liquidity at the "last mile" in developing countries—that is, the final exchange of a digital asset for local currency.

Saida Jaffar, Managing Director of International Affairs at Circle, stated that the company sees its mission as merging traditional and digital finance to solve practical problems, rather than promoting technology for its own sake.