Kenya’s parliament enacted the Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill 2025 last week, bringing the country one step closer to regulating cryptocurrencies, a lawmaker said. Reuters.
The bill must be signed by Kenyan President William Ruto to create a legislative framework to regulate crypto service providers and address potential abuses in the industry.
“We hope that Kenya can become a gateway to Africa,” said Finance Committee Chairperson Kuria Kimani. Reuters. “Most young people between the ages of 18 and 35 are now using virtual assets as a means of trading, paying, investing and doing business.”
One of the highlights of the bill is the identification of the key regulators for the industry in Kenya, namely the Central Bank of Kenya and the Capital Markets Authority.
While each will be responsible for regulating service providers such as cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges, only the central bank will oversee payment processors that arrange transactions between fiat and cryptocurrencies. The Kenya Capital Markets Authority, on the other hand, is responsible for regulating only brokers, investment advisors and digital asset managers.
cryptography It is gaining momentum in Africa as well. Sub-Saharan Africa ranks third in Chainalysis’ Cryptocurrency Adoption Report, largely due to its strong retail activity.
Kenya, in particular, ranks fourth among African countries in terms of total assets received in the year from July 2024 to June 2025, with nearly $20 billion in assets received during this period. But the country lags behind its neighbors in terms of regulations, analysts said. decryption.
“Other countries in the region, particularly South Africa, already have well-defined crypto licensing regimes, so Kenya is playing catch-up here,” said Coin Bureau analyst and co-founder Nick Pucklin.
“South Africa started issuing crypto licenses in 2023 and classified crypto assets as financial products the year before, so Kenya is about two years behind,” he added. “That means if we want to be the ‘gateway to Africa’ we need to act fast.”
At the beginning of this year, Protests broke out in the country Protesters pointed to cryptocurrencies as a potential means for young people to escape an unfair system.
The region is accustomed to using digital money; 96% of households Have you ever used a mobile money app in Kenya? called M-PESA. Sam Altman’s World Coin existed in Japan in 2023, but due to privacy concerns Crackdown due to Kenyan court order We spoke about the company’s practices earlier this year.
Additional reporting by Vince Dioquino
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