500 Tenge Year of the Monkey

Part of Kazakhstan's ongoing lunar calendar series, this issue follows a format the National Bank adopted in the early 2000s to tap collector demand across East and Central Asia — markets where lunar year coins move reliably. The monkey year falling in 2016 corresponds to the Fire Monkey in the sexagenary cycle, a combination that recurs only every sixty years.

The 7.78g weight is the standard fractional gold unit pegged to a quarter-troy-ounce equivalent, a sizing decision driven by bullion pricing accessibility rather than any domestic monetary function.