Kenya Will Be The First Country To Develop Cryptocurrency Regulations

BAK's director of law and policy, Allan Kakai (photo: twitter @allan_kakai)

JAKARTA - The National Assembly's Ministry of Finance and National Planning Committee has ordered the Kenyan Blockchain Association (BAK), to draft the first draft "what could be a virtual asset service provider law."

On October 31, Kenya's National Financial and Planning Committee invited BAK representatives to discuss digital asset regulations. BAK's director of law and policy, Allan Kakai, shared details of the meeting with local media, Mariblock.

"Basically, we told parliament: 'Look, Kenya has always banned itself as a Silicon jurisprudence; we are in top three for the volume of digital assets in Africa, and if we don't develop a clear licensing and regulatory framework, Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius will take over, and the capital flows that should have entered Kenya will move elsewhere,' Kakai said.

In response, the committee gave BAK two months to draft a cryptocurrency-related bill. Messages on the official committee X's (formerly Twitter) account only note that they "encourage the Association to conduct strong public education about cryptocurrency trading to solve the mysteries around it."

In September 2023, Kenya introduced the 2023 Finance Act, which includes requirements for cryptocurrency exchanges to withhold 3% "from the value of transfers or digital asset exchanges."

BAK, whose members have not succeeded in convincing policymakers not to approve this crypto tax in May, filed a complaint against it to the Kenyan High Court.

Kenyan authorities have taken a firm stance on Worldcoin's controversial digital ID project, founded by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. A parliamentary committee in Kenya's government recommended that regulators close operations of the project in the country, citing concerns over personal data collection.