Binance Partners with Kazakhstan’s Biggest Airline – Air Astana

Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world, announced a partnership with Air Astana – Kazakhstan’s largest airline. The partnership will allow the airline’s customers to convert their flight reward points into various cryptocurrencies.

In a series of deals and partnerships recently announced between Binance and the central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, the newest is undoubtedly the most creative. Binance announced on February 1 a collaboration with Air Astana that will see its customers convert their flight rewards into cryptocurrencies. Air Astana announced the partnership via a press release that customers can now “enter the world of cryptocurrencies with our partnership with Binance.” The partnership is a time-limited opportunity from February 1 to February 28, allowing Air Astana’s Nomad Club customers to use their points and exchange them for cryptocurrencies. The airline highlights the “limited opportunity” to convert their accumulated points to Binance USD (BUSD), Binance’s dollar-backed stablecoin.

Customers can Covert BUSD to Fiat

The partnership also allows customers to earn up to 20 BUSD, which they can cash out for fiat. The maximum number of convertible points is, however, capped at 1,000. The conversion offer has an exchange rate of 1 Nomad Blub bonus point to 0.01 BUSD. For a conversion to be verified, Nomad members must register an account on Binance’s exchange platform or must already be registered with the exchange. Reward customers who take advantage of the offer will be granted “a welcome bonus of 10BUSD.”

Binance says the collaboration offers “easy entry into the world of cryptocurrencies.”

Binance’s Engagement with Kazakhstan Seems to Have No End

Binance and the central Asian country have, over recent months, entered numerous partnerships and taken on many new endeavors. Most recently, Binance partnered with Kazakhstan state organizations to launch a country-wide blockchain education program. The initiative aims to qualify university students in Kazakhstan to work in the crypto industry. As such, the Kazakhstani government will add blockchain courses to the curriculum of higher education institutions across the country. The initiative will equip over 40,000 students by 2026 with blockchain training at universities and institutions of higher education across the country.

The central bank of Kazakhstan, the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK), said it would integrate its CBDC into Binance’s blockchain network, BNB Chain, in October. In December, the NBK began testing its CBDC – the digital Tenge, in 2021 and announced that it will work on deploying its CBDC as early as 2023 and will expand on the project until the end of 2025. The NBK found a CBDC feasible after it completed the second testing phase and published a whitepaper explaining the necessity of a CBDC.

Kazakhstan and Binance share the vision of the “safe development of virtual assets market in the country and the creation of a long-term and sustainable platform for interaction.” To achieve its shared interest, Binance signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Financial Monitoring Agency of Kazakhstan as part of Binance’s global law enforcement training program to fight financial crimes.  

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.