Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov has signed regulations that will grant legal status to the national digital currency, ‘digital som.’ This landmark step formalizes the country’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) initiative and paves the way for future trials of digital currency applications. The new regulations empower the Central Bank to develop rules for transactions on the ‘digital som’ platform and establish standards for oversight of the nascent digital currency system. 2023 marks the beginning of this ambitious project, with initial testing scheduled for the year, followed by a final decision in 2024. The Central Bank will then define specific rules related to payment transactions during implementation.