Kenyan regulators have proposed a raft of regulations geared to force digital asset firms to establish local offices. The Virtual Asset Service Providers Bills, 2025, which was published by the National Treasury highlighted that a virtual asset service provider shall maintain a registered office in Kenya.
The Kenyan government clearly understands that more investors are interested in the digital assets industry as an alternative form of investment. Furthermore, Kenya has one of the highest crypto adoption rates in Africa, amounting to about 4.25 million people, which represents 8.5 percent of the total population.
Strict Measures for Crypto Firms in Kenya
The draft law further pointed out that the government will beaver the heads of the crypto firms to ensure high professionalism and make sure that they have not committed any offense against the established laws for virtual assets.
“The board of directors of a licensee shall comprise natural persons only and a director shall not serve in more than one board,” the proposed law stated.
The government of Kenya intends to reduce the tax cheats and support its ballooning budget amid rising resistance from local businesses to pay additional taxes. The move will force crypto exchanges and potentially digital wallet providers to establish local offices, despite operating remotely in most jurisdictions.
Market Impact
The ongoing mainstream adoption of digital assets will heavily be impacted by the changing regulatory landscapes around the world. Already, the IMF had urged the Kenyan regulators to implement clear crypto regulatory frameworks to counter tax evasion, fraud, cybercrime, weak governance, consumer protection issues, and money laundering, among others.
Nonetheless, the clear crypto regulations in Kenya will set a new precedent for the mainstream adoption of digital assets in the coming years.
