Kenyan lawmakers have asked the Local Blockchain Association to issue a crypto bill
Kenya may be the first country where industry representatives develop a regulatory framework for crypto. According to the Blockchain Association of Kenya (BAK), the National Assembly's Committee on Finance and National Planning Department has directed it to prepare the first draft of the “What Could Be Virtual Asset Service Provider Bill”.
On October 31, the Finance and National Planning Committee invited BAK representatives to discuss the regulation of digital assets. BAK Legal and Policy Director Alan Kakai shared the details behind the meeting with local media:
“We're basically talking. [the] Parliament: ‘Look, Kenya has always called itself the Silicon Savannah. We are the top three for digital assets [volume in Africa]If we do not prepare a clear licensing and regulatory framework, Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Mauritius will lead the flow of capital that would have come to Kenya and flow elsewhere.
In response, the committee gave BAK two months to prepare a crypto account. A message on the committee's official X (formerly Twitter) account reads: “The association urges strong public education about cryptocurrency trading.”
Topic: Kenya to introduce digital IDs for citizens by year-end.
In September 2023, Kenya introduced the Financial Services Act 2023, which required cryptocurrency exchanges to charge 3% of the “transfer or exchange value of the digital asset”. BAK, which failed to convince lawmakers not to pass this crypto tax at a meeting in May, appealed against it to Kenya's High Court.
Kenyan authorities have taken a hard line against Worldcoin, a controversial digital identity project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. A parliamentary committee of the Kenyan government has recommended that regulators close the project's work in the country, citing the risk of collecting personal data.
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