Kazakhstan has officially launched its unified national QR payment system, with 8B.world to enable the first cross-border payments through local banks.
Following this announcement, the system was developed in order to introduce a single national QR standard that simplifies payment acceptance for merchants and improves interoperability across all banks.
Furthermore, 8B.world, a PSP based in Central Asia and now scaling globally, also confirmed that it will deliver the first cross-border transactions on Kazakhstan’s new QR rail in close partnership with several local banks.
The launch of a unified national QR system and the optimisation of cross-border payments
According to the official press release, Kazakhstan’s newly launched QR system is expected to introduce one QR code accepted by every participating bank, one terminal for all merchants (a strategy that aims to reduce hardware, cost, and operational friction), and one national standard, designed for instant, secure, real-time payments. At the same time, as of late 2025, several major banks have already connected to the QR framework, with a full-scale rollout process being underway.
With this initiative in place, 8B.world is expected to activate cross-border QR payments, giving merchants and consumers the possibility to transact regionally with the same ease and reliability as domestic QR purchases. Furthermore, 8B.world will integrate national QR and real-time domestic systems into a single cross-border platform in order to allow global businesses to accept and send payments via trusted local rails.
Kazakhstan’s national QR system is set to join 8B.world’s growing network of domestic systems, including ELQR (Kyrgyzstan), QR PH (Philippines), QRIS (Indonesia), and CoDi (Mexico), as well as additional QR and instant-payment systems across the regions of the Caucasus and Central Asia. Together, these solutions will focus on the development of a global matrix of local rails, all accessible through one standardised API.
8B.world will focus on a broader strategy to make the world’s national QR and real-time payment systems work securely and efficiently across borders. This initiative will be enabled by AI-driven smart routing, ESG-aligned infrastructure (including paperless onboarding and energy-efficient payment rails), fully compliant and transparent FX flows, as well as one unified interface for PSPs, enterprises, and digital platforms.
