On 11 February, Nazarbayev University hosted a landmark event for Kazakhstan’s innovative finance market — the official launch of the Apartchain platform and the country’s first issuance of tokens backed by commercial real estate. The event brought together representatives of the NU Impact Foundation, the National Bank of Kazakhstan, investors, members of the technology community, and real estate developers.
In his opening remarks, Sayat Nyussupov, Head of the NU Impact Foundation, emphasized the importance of developing new investment instruments to support sustainable economic growth.
Apartchain is a technology-driven real estate tokenization platform built on blockchain solutions and operating within the regulatory sandbox of the National Bank of Kazakhstan. The platform enables the issuance, placement, and circulation of digital assets linked to real-world properties. It was developed by the portfolio project Jas Ventures with the support of the NU Impact Foundation and is designed to enhance transparency, automate transactions, and expand access to real estate investments through digital tokens.
As part of the first issuance, a commercial property located in Astana was successfully tokenized. Following the issuance, the price of one token amounted to KZT 407,000. Each token represents a fractional ownership interest in the property and entitles its holder to a proportional share of rental income, recorded through smart contract mechanisms and independent validation.
“In simple terms, tokenization means that ownership rights to a commercial real estate asset are digitized and divided into fractions. An investor can, for example, purchase the equivalent of 5 square meters of a property and receive rental income proportional to their share. At the same time, digital tokens can be sold in full or in part, increasing flexibility and the potential liquidity of investments compared to traditional real estate ownership models,” said Yerlan Uali, CEO of Apartchain.
The launch of Apartchain and the first real estate token issuance mark a new stage in the development of Kazakhstan’s digital finance infrastructure, creating additional opportunities for investment attraction, greater transparency, and the expansion of investment instruments in the real estate market.
