The Parliament of Kenya has passed a bill aimed at regulating the digital asset market in the country. The document, known as the Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill, introduces transparent rules for the operations of virtual asset service providers.
This is reported by Business • Media
Key Provisions of the New Law
The bill is designed to address the lack of a clear regulatory framework for the digital asset sector. From now on, the Central Bank of Kenya will be responsible for licensing stablecoins and issuing digital assets. In turn, the activities of cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms will be regulated by the local capital markets authority.
The final enactment of the law depends on the signature of the country’s president, William Ruto.
Expected Impact on the Fintech Sector
The head of the financial committee of the Kenyan Parliament, Kuria Kimani, emphasized that the experiences of the United States and the United Kingdom were taken into account during the preparation of the bill. The new legislation is expected to create favorable conditions for attracting investments in the fintech sector, particularly from leading international cryptocurrency exchanges.
“The new legislation is expected to create clearer rules of the game, which in turn will stimulate investments in the fintech sector, particularly from leading exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase.”
Kuria Kimani also noted that Kenya could become the “gateway to Africa” for digital financial technologies. According to him, the majority of the population aged 18 to 35 is already actively using virtual assets for trading, payments, investing, and conducting business.
It is worth noting that earlier this year, Kenya was already preparing to develop legislation for the legalization of cryptocurrencies and digital assets.