Kenya’s two financial regulators have told anyone providing, or intending to provide, virtual-asset services to apply for a licence. A joint public notice from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), dated 13 November 2026, says such persons “are required to apply for a licence from the relevant regulatory authority” under the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025.
The Act commenced on 4 November 2025. It has the CBK and the CMA license providers in line with the services listed in its First Schedule. The notice does not say which regulator covers which service. It points applicants to licensing checklists on the regulators’ websites and says each regulator will publish a list of licensed providers. It gives no date for those lists and names no licensed firm.
Who is covered
The Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations, 2026, gazetted on 22 July 2026 as Legal Notice 134, apply to persons offering virtual-asset services “in or from Kenya”. Under regulation 4, a person is treated as operating there if it actively solicits or targets local consumers, or derives economic benefit or income from Kenya, whether or not it has a physical presence in the country.
Section 47 of the Act requires anyone already providing virtual-asset services when the Act commenced to comply “within one year of the commencement”. Law firms count that year as ending on 4 November 2026, although, as one firm notes, no official text prints that date. The 13 November notice does not announce a new transition period.
What an application involves
The Regulations list what an application must contain. These include a business plan, a fit-and-proper assessment form, proof of source of funds, operational policies, audited financial statements, and an independent information systems audit that includes a penetration test. Applicants must also show paid-up and liquid capital at the levels set in the Fifth Schedule.
The First Schedule sets a KSh 100,000 application fee for most categories. Withdrawing an application forfeits that fee (regulation 5(2)). Once all documents are received and due diligence is complete, the regulator must decide within 30 days (regulation 6(4)).
Applying is not the same as being licensed
Section 8(2) of the Act bars anyone from carrying on virtual-asset services in or from Kenya, or holding itself out as doing so, unless it is licensed. An application is not a licence. We have not seen either regulator’s list of licensed providers, so this article cannot say which firms, if any, are licensed.
The notice gives contacts for further information: [email protected] for the CBK and [email protected] for the CMA.
Kenya’s crypto activity was estimated at about $5.7 billion in the year to June 2026, according to Chainalysis data reported by Business Daily and cited by Finlazo. That is a third-party estimate, not a figure from the notice.
Sources
- Central Bank of Kenya and Capital Markets Authority, public notice on the gazettement of the Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations, 2026 (dated 13 November 2026, PDF)
- Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations, 2026, Legal Notice 134 (PDF)
- Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025, Act No. 20 of 2025 (PDF)
- Shakila Afshar, Finlazo, "Kenya's Regulators Tell Crypto Firms to Apply for Licences: What the New Notice Says" (14 November 2026)
- Coindaro, "Kenya VASP licence deadline: 4 November 2026"
TopicsKenya Central Bank of Kenya Capital Markets Authority Crypto Assets Regulation African Startups
