Crypto infrastructure in Central Asia has reached a new milestone. The Astana International Exchange (AIX) has hosted the long-awaited listing of Kazakhstan’s first-ever exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on digital assets.
The management company Fonte Capital launched two pioneering products simultaneously: Fonte Bitcoin ETF (ticker BETF) and Fonte Solana ETF (ticker SETF). The Bitcoin fund tracks BTC’s price and is fully backed by bitcoin stored with licensed custodian BitGo. This allows investors institutional exposure to the asset without the need to directly hold it or manage private keys.
The Solana fund represents a true innovation for the region: it not only mirrors the price of SOL, but also features a staking mechanism, enabling investors to earn yield directly from the blockchain. While this model is already in use in Europe, it is the first of its kind in the Kazakh market. The ETF supports both fiat and in-kind settlement (i.e., in Solana tokens).
Leading market players like Freedom Finance, Raiffeisenbank Kazakhstan, and other AIX participants provide access to the ETF shares.
This launch reinforces Kazakhstan’s strategic position as a crypto hub of Eurasia and demonstrates the country’s ambition to integrate digital assets into a regulated financial ecosystem. The listing of such instruments builds a bridge between the crypto market and institutional investors, promoting legalization and mainstream adoption within a legal framework.
