Kenya gazettes Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations, splitting supervision between the central bank and capital markets authority
Kenya gazetted the Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations, 2026 on 24 July 2026, completing implementation of the VASP Act assented to in October 2025. The Central Bank of Kenya will supervise fiat conversion services and stablecoin issuers, while the Capital Markets Authority takes exchanges, token issuance platforms and tokenization.
What happened
The Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations, 2026 were gazetted on 24 July 2026 in Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 185 under Legal Notice No. 134. The regulations operationalise the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, which was assented to in October 2025, by creating the licensing framework under which Kenyan regulators can approve and supervise firms. Supervision is split. The Central Bank of Kenya takes responsibility for virtual-asset-to-fiat conversion services and stablecoin issuers. The Capital Markets Authority regulates exchanges, token issuance platforms, initial coin offerings and tokenization activity. Licensed firms must maintain governance frameworks, conduct customer due diligence, retain transaction records for at least seven years, file regular regulatory reports and implement cybersecurity and business continuity controls. Remote providers serving Kenyan customers are covered. During consultation, industry participants argued that proposed capital and compliance requirements risked excluding smaller operators. Kenyan reporting refers to a November 2026 compliance deadline.
Why it matters
Kenya is East Africa's largest digital-payments market, and the split between the central bank and the capital markets authority is the substantive design decision: it treats stablecoin issuance as a monetary and payments matter while treating tokenized instruments as securities activity. That division is closer to the UK and US models than to a single-regulator approach. The regulations also make Kenya one of the first African jurisdictions to move from primary legislation to an operative licensing regime, which gives regional firms a compliance template and gives foreign platforms a legal route to serve Kenyan users.
What is not settled
Minimum capital levels and licence fees in the gazetted text have not been reported, and the number of firms that will qualify before the compliance deadline is unknown.
Institutions in this story
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Central Bank of Kenya
Central bank
Licensing authority for stablecoin issuers and virtual-asset-to-fiat conversion under Legal Notice No. 134; the rules it consulted on would hold 30% of funds received at Kenyan commercial banks and the remainder in high-quality liquid assets, tying a shilling token to local bank credit risk.
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Capital Markets Authority
Regulator
Kenya's securities regulator, which under the Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations gazetted on 24 July 2026 became the licensing gate for exchanges, token issuance platforms and any tokenized securities offering marketed to Kenyan investors.