100 Tenge Snow Leopard

Kazakhstan's snow leopard conservation coinage emerged alongside the country's broader effort to position itself internationally following independence, with the National Bank issuing wildlife series pieces partly to attract foreign collector markets hungry for central Asian themes. The snow leopard — locally called "irbis" — had been exploited as a symbol of Kazakh national identity since the early 1990s, appearing on regional emblems well before it anchored a coin series.

Mintage on KM#228 was tightly controlled, typical of the National Bank's bullion-adjacent collector issues from this period.