Report reveals Kenya’s progress in blockchain regulation

A newly released assessment shows that Kenya has made major strides in regulating blockchain and crypto assets — marking a significant shift toward formal oversight of digital-asset markets. The review, conducted by government and financial-sector experts, underlines how recent laws and regulatory frameworks are helping transform previously informal cryptocurrency activity into a structured, transparent sector. It concludes that Kenya is now among the leading African nations to establish stable, investable regulatory conditions — an essential step in fostering trust, innovation, and long-term growth.
The backbone of this progress is the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 (VASP Act), officially passed by Parliament on 13 October 2025.
The Act lays out licensing requirements, compliance and oversight rules, and assigns the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya (CMA) as the key regulators of virtual-asset services depending on their nature (e.g., stablecoins, exchanges, custody).
In October 2025, the Act was signed into law, bringing legal clarity to what had been a loosely regulated market.
Beyond the law, a technical-assistance report published earlier this year also mapped the scale of crypto-asset usage in Kenya, highlighted market risks (like illicit use through peer-to-peer platforms), and laid out a timeline for regulatory adoption.
The document shows that by early 2024, authorities had already established a cross-agency working group to draft policy and prepare interventions, signaling that regulatory reform was not sudden but a planned, data-driven process.
Analysts interpreting the findings believe that the new regulatory framework can reshape Kenya’s digital future. With licensing, supervision, and consumer protections in place, blockchain-based services — from stablecoin payments and digital remittances to decentralized applications and tokenized assets — can now scale in a stable environment. This legitimacy is expected to attract both local and international investment, encourage innovation, and integrate Kenya more deeply into global digital-asset markets.