Digital security is now a key component of most processes in every country. A large share of organizations is moving, or has already moved, their processes online, which requires increased attention and control. Many Central Asian countries are already rolling out AI technologies at the state level.
Financial institutions, social systems, crypto services, rental services, and other high-risk areas can no longer develop effectively without biometric identification and AI. Central Asia is gradually developing its own biometric landscape, and if we look at it not as a set of disparate projects but as an emerging infrastructure, it becomes clear that the countries are moving at very different speeds.
Kazakhstan: Leader in Biometrics and Digital Identity in the Region
Today, Kazakhstan is the undisputed leader in Central Asia in the field of biometric technologies. In this region biometrics has long gone beyond isolated pilots and has become part of the digital infrastructure on which a significant part of the economy operates.
Unlike neighboring countries, where biometrics is most often limited to video surveillance or exclusively state initiatives, Kazakhstan has developed a mature market of independent developers and technology companies creating competitive products both for private organizations and for government platforms. Thanks to active digitalization, biometrics in the country has become not an add-on, but the primary mechanism for identity verification. The state additionally stimulates this process: it expands the use of biometric identification in ministerial processes, strengthens the requirements for remote verification, and transfers critical services, such as the issuance of an Electronic Digital Signature (EDS), to biometric authentication. In this way, an environment is being built in which online processes gain full legal validity and the population receives convenient access to services without the need to visit physical offices.
Kazakhstan’s key distinction is that it has a full-fledged biometrics market, not just government-driven initiatives. The private sector actively invests in biometric solutions, integrates them into its processes, and competes on the quality of the user experience. Banks strive to reduce entry barriers for clients, MFIs (software development kits) increase protection against fraud, crypto exchanges strengthen their compliance structure, and marketplaces implement biometric identification to secure transactions. This has created an effect unique for the region: biometrics has ceased to be a one-off project and has turned into an everyday part of business.
Against this background, independent local companies are developing that are capable of creating advanced technological solutions within the country. Among them, Biometric.Vision stands out in particular, an international company originating from Kazakhstan, one of the key players in the Kazakhstani market that has formed its own technological stack and operates across several industries. The company has become a technological partner for banks, financial organizations, government services, and regulated industries, providing software modules for remote identification, biometric verification, liveness checks, and fraud prevention. Local products make it possible to respond quickly to new regulatory requirements, adapt to them, and address the real needs of local businesses.
For Kazakhstan, the presence of local players in the biometrics market is an important strategic advantage, since many Central Asian countries are dependent on external providers. In this region biometrics has become not just a local product, but a full-fledged element of digital sovereignty, thanks to which the country can control high-risk identity infrastructure without relying on external providers. Therefore, biometrics in Kazakhstan has become not just a technological tool, but the foundation of trust between the state, business, and citizens. The presence of independent developers, mature demand from businesses, and active state support is turning the country into the most dynamically developing biometrics market in the region, and it is here that the model is being formed which other Central Asian countries will adopt in the coming years.
Kyrgyzstan: State-Led Development of Biometric Systems
By contrast, neighboring Kyrgyzstan looks very different. While in Kazakhstan biometrics has long since also become a private business tool, in Kyrgyzstan it remains primarily an element of state security systems and document management. The most advanced area here is biometric passports, which have provided enhanced security compared to the ordinary ones since 2021. Such passports comply with ICAO international protection standards. This is a significant step forward that confirms the technological ambitions of the state, but the introduction of digitalization into the processes of private players is severely limited. Another notable segment is video surveillance and access control systems, where solutions with facial recognition are being actively implemented. However, all of this is essentially security infrastructure, not a digital identity ecosystem capable of serving such financial institutions as banks, MFIs, pawnshops, and, in general, any private business sectors and organizations.
In Kyrgyzstan there are still no independent local companies that could offer a full-fledged e-KYC module, provide an SDK, API, a remote identification platform, and take on the legal validity of the process. The commercial biometrics market has in fact not been formed, and businesses that require remote customer identification either rely on external solutions or are forced to make do with simpler mechanisms. The development of biometric passports depended on the German company Mühlbauer and the American company Entrust. The state enterprise Infocom was only responsible for the overall coordination of the project. Private players are even more constrained and are forced to turn to imported solutions from India (Accurascan), which greatly complicates control over the process, adaptation to local regulatory requirements, and the overall development of local technologies in the region.
In terms of the depth of technologies and integration with the digital economy, Kyrgyzstan is noticeably lagging behind Kazakhstan, although in terms of the level of implementation of video surveillance and government documents it is making significant strides, yet it still heavily depends on foreign players.
Tajikistan: Biometrics Without a Market
Tajikistan is at an even earlier stage of development. Here biometrics appears in a fragmented way and mainly through external integrators that, as security measures, install video surveillance cameras, access terminals, or equipment from foreign manufacturers. The most active players in the market remain companies like Sarfaroz, which work with security systems, access control, and video surveillance, but do not develop solutions for remote identity verification. Tajikistan so far does not have a single independent local player capable of offering the market local e-KYC technologies, and the digital identification of citizens remains a domain dominated by the state.
An example of this was the recent decision by the state to move retirees to digital identification. The State Agency for Social Protection has begun implementing mandatory registration through a mobile application, facial recognition, and photographing of documents. This is a major step in digitalization, affecting a large and vulnerable segment of the population. However, the implementation of this project once again highlights the specifics of the Tajik market: the technology contractor is not named, no private developer is visible, and all digital identification is precisely a state mechanism rather than a product created by an independent local company.
In Tajikistan biometrics is developing from the top down, through government contracts and a narrowly focused security infrastructure, rather than through a private market of technological solutions. The absence of independent local e-KYC developers makes the market one-sided: all significant projects, from video surveillance systems to new mechanisms of digital identification of citizens, are tied to government agencies and integrators working with imported equipment. This limits the flexibility of implementations and slows down the pace of innovation. The country effectively remains in a situation where biometric technologies are applied only where they are initiated by the state, while the private sector has neither the tools nor the capabilities for the independent development of digital identity.
The Future of Digital Identity in Central Asia
Central Asia is gradually entering a stage of digital transformation, where biometrics is becoming one of the key elements of the future socio-economic model. The field of digital identity is shaping a new level of interaction between the state, business, and citizens. Despite a noticeable difference in pace, the countries of the region are moving in the same direction, toward creating a sustainable and secure digital environment that will determine their competitiveness in the coming years.
The future success of Central Asia in the field of digital identity will depend on the ability of the countries to build their own technological competencies, modernize the regulatory environment, and create conditions for the development of local innovative companies. If these factors align, the entire region will be able to move from being a consumer of technology to becoming a creator, forming a space in which biometrics will become not just a means of identification, but a platform for a new digital economy.
