Today in crypto, the government of Kazakhstan is reportedly considering converting part of its sovereign wealth and gold holdings into digital assets, Schwab found 45% of ETF investors plan to buy a crypto ETF, and Google is integrating prediction market data from Kalshi and Polymarket into its search results.
Kazakhstan may fuel $1 billion crypto reserve with gold, FX and seized assets
Kazakhstan’s government is reportedly considering converting a portion of the country’s National Fund assets, as well as part of its gold and foreign exchange reserves, to fund a cryptocurrency reserve.
According to The Times of Central Asia, Berik Sholpankulov, deputy chairman of Kazakhstan’s National Bank, announced the initiative during a recent parliamentary session. A Bloomberg Law report Friday suggested the government aims to allocate between $500 million and $1 billion to the effort.
“I think by year end, January next year, we will have it up and running,” Sholpankulov said, according to Bloomberg. Sholpankulov added that the creation of a state-managed crypto asset fund is under discussion among government officials. “We are considering the possibility of using part of the National Fund’s assets and gold and foreign exchange reserves for investment in crypto assets,” he said.
The central bank official said confiscated assets “will be transferred to the state digital asset fund” to be “stored as a strategic reserve of the government.” He also stated that the Ministry of Digital Development has proposed allowing state-owned entities to supply energy to private cryptocurrency mining companies in exchange for cryptocurrency.
Nearly half of ETF investers plan to buy crypto ETFs
Nearly half of exchange-traded fund (ETF) investors are planning to buy a crypto ETF, matching those who said they’d buy a bond ETF, according to a Schwab Asset Management survey released on Thursday.
Schwab found that 52% of the 2,000 individual ETF investors it surveyed were planning to invest in a US equities ETF, while 45% said they were interested in crypto ETFs, tied in second place with those interested in ETFs for US bonds.
“This was also shocking to see crypto tied with bonds for second place in where people plan to invest,” said Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. “Majorly punching above weight given crypto is 1% of total ETF aum [assets under management] while bonds are 17%.”
Around 57% of Millennial respondents indicated they planned to invest in crypto through ETFs, compared to 41% of Gen X respondents and 15% of baby boomers.
Balchunas said the “whole survey was super-optimistic” for ETFs in general, with “basically everyone planning to increase usage,” especially the younger generations.
Google Finance adds prediction markets data in new AI-powered update
Google is incorporating prediction market data from Kalshi and Polymarket into its search results as part of its AI-powered upgrade, enabling users to view real-time probabilities for future market events directly within the platform.
According to a Thursday announcement, the prediction market data will be available in the next couple of weeks, letting users view market odds and track how forecasts have shifted over time by typing a question directly into Google’s search bar.
The feature is part of an AI-powered revamp of Google Finance — a free web service by Google that provides real-time financial market data. The upgrade also introduces Deep Search, driven by its Gemini models, along with new live earnings features.
Polymarket, founded in 2020, is a decentralized prediction platform on the Polygon blockchain where users trade on real-world events, while Kalshi, founded in 2018, is a US CFTC-regulated exchange offering event contracts within the traditional financial system.
Both platforms allow users to wager on a wide range of events — from sports and political outcomes to more unconventional questions like “Trump declassifies UFO files before 2027?” or “Will Zohran Mamdani freeze NYC rent next year?”
