Kazakhstan will continue looking into a central bank digital currency (CBDC) until 2025 at least, the central bank said in a report published Thursday.

In December 2021, the country said it was piloting a CBDC on R3's Corda platform and would make a decision on whether to introduce one by the end of this year. In October, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said the National Bank of Kazakhstan will test use cases for the e-tenge on the company's BNB Chain.

The bank said it has completed some phases of the trial, including refinement of the prototype and introduction for a limited number of participants. For the next two years, the country "will develop solutions for launching into industrial operation," and will cooperate with other central banks on cross-border and currency-exchange operations, the report said. By December 2025 it will add more participants, aim to introduce offline capabilities and connect with non-bank mediators.

"The unique advantages of the national digital currency relates to conducting a chain of transactions offline," the report said.

Countries around the world have been pressing ahead with CBDC exploration, with a few saying they are likely to issue one within 10 years. As many as 105 countries are exploring a CBDC, representing 95% of the global gross domestic product, according to the Atlantic Council, a U.S.-based think tank that focuses on international issues. Nigeria, the Bahamas, Jamaica and Eastern Caribbean have issued a CBDC, while China is further ahead than most countries in its CBDC trials.