From the legal point of view, «electronic money» – perpetual monetary liabilities of the issuer to the bearer in electronic form, the issue (issue) in circulation of which is carried out by the issuer both after the receipt of funds in the amount not less than the amount of the obligations assumed, and the form of credit granted. Circulation of «electronic money» is carried out by way of assignment of the right of claim to the issuer and generates obligations of the latter on fulfillment of monetary obligations in the amount presented by «electronic money». Accounting of monetary liabilities is performed in electronic form on a special device. From the point of view of their material form, «electronic money» shall represent information in electronic form at the disposal of the owner and stored on a special device, usually on the hard disk of a personal computer or a microprocessor card, which can be transferred from one device to another by means of telecommunication lines and other electronic means of information transfer. Economically, «electronic money» is a payment instrument that, depending on the scheme of implementation, possesses the properties of both traditional cash and traditional payment instruments (bank cards, cheques, etc.): the ability to make payments in cash bypassing the banking system, with traditional payment instruments – the ability to make payments in cashless order through accounts opened with credit institutions.

When electronic payment systems are in operation, there is a possibility of losses or underreceipt of income as compared to the forecasted variant. This probability will be determined with the help of the «risk» category. The above factors determining the development of e-money systems are directly related to such risks as operational, reputation, legal, strategic, and identification and evaluation of which is an important task in the development of the policy of security of credit institutions that issue e-money. All electronic payments can be divided into: debit payments (electronic cheques and digital cash); credit payments (credit cards).

Appealing to the foreign experience of payment systems development has shown that in the Kazakhstani market of card payments there are problems similar to the historical foreign experience and the associated risks, which are reasonable for Kazakhstan to anticipate and provide for measures of minimization or avoidance. General prerequisites for the development of card systems in Kazakhstan and abroad were the needs of growing economies, but Kazakhstan has a stable technological base and solutions tested by international experience. Kazakhstan has a more specific and practical goal – reduction of cashless turnover and reduction of costs in the economy, which is also conditioned by the relevant foreign experience. The world card system has evolved from the initially disorderly development of individual competing systems headed by the leading bank on the basis of its settlement capabilities to the globalization of payment systems with the creation of associations providing reliable infrastructure and quality services. The result of these efforts was the formation of market-competing payment systems that received the status of global payment systems and the penetration of electronic payment technologies in all spheres of the economy.

Kazakhstani practice is characterized by the use of foreign payment systems and their infrastructure, the use of foreign technologies in the creation of local card systems and insufficient coverage by electronic payment technologies of the country's territories and separate spheres of the economy, which determines the potential for future growth. Prospects of development of the domestic market consist in creation of the national payment system and own infrastructure uniting local (private) systems, with their penetration into all spheres of economic and social activity and access of the national payment system to the world market.

The electronic money market is developing very quickly in many respects. At present, there are 8 Kazakhstani electronic money systems operating in the market, the issuers of which are 6 second-tier banks. In the near future it is planned to launch two more systems. At the end of 2018, 8.7 million transactions worth 21.5 billion tenge were made with the use of electronic money. Today, the main players are electronic payment systems: QIWI, WEB MONEY, YANDEX money and others. Efficiency, simplicity of use, speed of transfers make electronic payment systems strong competitors of any Kazakhstani commercial bank.

For the wide introduction of electronic money into the monetary circulation of developed countries, the following conditions should be met: to ensure extremely low cost of transactions with the use of electronic money; to develop a clear legal framework governing the status of issuers of electronic money and the regulation of relations between participants in the circulation of electronic money; to create reliable and affordable encryption algorithms that guarantee complete confidentiality and security of electronic payments; to develop a wide infrastructure for the service of Fulfillment of all the above mentioned conditions will allow electronic money to take one of the most important places in the XXI century monetary and credit system.