🇰🇪 D-16. By November 4, 2026, crypto platforms already operating in Kenya must comply with the new law. After that, the grace period ends.
📌 The facts (VASP Act 2025, Law Lab Africa, Blockwisely)
• The Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Act has been in force since November 4, 2025
• Section 47 gives existing operators one year: until November 4, 2026
• The detailed regulations were only published on July 22, 2026, leaving around 15 weeks to prepare applications
• No extension has been publicly announced to date
🧠 How it works
Two types of services, two regulators:
• Central Bank (CBK): wallets that hold your funds, payments, stablecoin issuers such as $USDT. Example: 150 million shillings in capital for custody services
• Capital Markets Authority (CMA): exchanges, brokers, advisers
Requirements: segregated customer funds, anti-money laundering measures, cybersecurity. According to law firm Oraro, a foreign platform targeting Kenyans may also be covered.
⚖️ The nuance
• More rules, more recourse if a platform goes off the rails
• But a license prevents neither losses nor falling prices
• It’s expensive: smaller operators may leave or raise their fees
• Filing an application alone does not guarantee the right to keep operating
👤 Achieng (a fictional character), a vegetable seller in Kisumu, receives digital dollars from her brother in Dubai and converts them to M-Pesa. Her checklist: check whether her app has applied for a license in Kenya, don’t leave her entire balance sitting there, and ignore “agents” who promise to sort everything out in exchange for her access codes.
✅ A license is a driver’s permit, not all-risk insurance.
Should your country copy this model? 👇
Not financial advice. DYOR.
Sources: VASP Act 2025, Legal Notice 134/2026, Law Lab Africa, Blockwisely, Liminal.
#Kenya #Régulation #Crypto #Afrique
📌 The facts (VASP Act 2025, Law Lab Africa, Blockwisely)
• The Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Act has been in force since November 4, 2025
• Section 47 gives existing operators one year: until November 4, 2026
• The detailed regulations were only published on July 22, 2026, leaving around 15 weeks to prepare applications
• No extension has been publicly announced to date
🧠 How it works
Two types of services, two regulators:
• Central Bank (CBK): wallets that hold your funds, payments, stablecoin issuers such as $USDT. Example: 150 million shillings in capital for custody services
• Capital Markets Authority (CMA): exchanges, brokers, advisers
Requirements: segregated customer funds, anti-money laundering measures, cybersecurity. According to law firm Oraro, a foreign platform targeting Kenyans may also be covered.
⚖️ The nuance
• More rules, more recourse if a platform goes off the rails
• But a license prevents neither losses nor falling prices
• It’s expensive: smaller operators may leave or raise their fees
• Filing an application alone does not guarantee the right to keep operating
👤 Achieng (a fictional character), a vegetable seller in Kisumu, receives digital dollars from her brother in Dubai and converts them to M-Pesa. Her checklist: check whether her app has applied for a license in Kenya, don’t leave her entire balance sitting there, and ignore “agents” who promise to sort everything out in exchange for her access codes.
✅ A license is a driver’s permit, not all-risk insurance.
Should your country copy this model? 👇
Not financial advice. DYOR.
Sources: VASP Act 2025, Legal Notice 134/2026, Law Lab Africa, Blockwisely, Liminal.
#Kenya #Régulation #Crypto #Afrique