Despite the rapid growth in electronic money transactions, more than half of electronic wallets in Kyrgyzstan remain unidentified. This data was provided by the National Bank in its latest report for the fourth quarter of 2024.

According to the regulator, there are 7.6 million electronic wallets registered in the country, of which only 3.2 million have undergone identification. This represents only 42.4% of the total number. The remaining wallets are formally active but are not linked to the personal data of their owners. It is noteworthy that the situation has remained virtually unchanged over the year. At the end of 2023, the share of verified wallets was 42.1%.

Meanwhile, since October 1, 2020, the National Bank has been enforcing a regulation prohibiting the use of unidentified wallets. According to the regulator, user identification is necessary to minimize the risks of money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illegal operations. The identification procedure can be completed through the issuing bank or remotely online.

However, practice shows that almost 58% of e-wallets remain anonymous.

At the same time, there has been steady growth in the use of electronic money. During the period under review, the volume of wallet replenishments reached 15.9 billion KGS, which is 62.3% more than in the same quarter of 2023. Transfers between wallets also showed growth, reaching 5.4 million transactions (+62.5%), with the total amount of transfers amounting to 10 billion KGS (+36.6%). The volume of payments for goods and services grew by 35.3% to 12.1 billion KGS.

At the same time, electronic money redemption transactions — i.e., the return of funds to bank accounts or the receipt of cash — decreased by 12.5% in terms of the number of transactions, despite an increase in volume.