**BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, December 11.** The Constitutional Law, State Structure, Judicial and Legal Issues, and Parliamentary Regulations Committee of the Kyrgyz Parliament has approved the draft law on the status of the national digital currency – the digital som – in its first reading, [Trend](http://en.trend.az) reports.
According to the Kyrgyz Parliament, the bill was initiated by the Cabinet of Ministers.
The draft law is designed to launch a pilot project for the prototype of the digital som and to establish its legal framework and status. As noted by the Deputy Chairman of the National Bank, Mels Attokurov, one of the advantages of the digital som is its security.
The digital som will become the national currency of Kyrgyzstan and will be recognized as legal tender within the country. It will be issued through a specialized platform operated by the National Bank, which will manage the issuance, accounting, and distribution of the digital currency. The bank will hold exclusive rights to issue the digital som.
Testing of the digital som prototype is scheduled to begin in early 2025. After successfully completing all stages of testing the technological platform, a final decision on the launch of the digital som is planned for the end of 2026.