Kenya Says No Crypto Firms Licensed Yet — But Bitcoin ATMs Are Already Live
Bitcoin ATMs have appeared in a number of main Nairobi buying facilities simply days after Kenya’s new crypto law took effect. However, regulators confirmed that no operators have but obtained formal approval, in accordance with a local report.
The installations at Two Rivers Mall, Westlands, and alongside Ngong Road coincide with the Virtual Assets Service Providers Act changing into efficient on November 4, making a regulatory grey space as the federal government finalizes licensing procedures.
In a joint discover dated November 18, the Central Bank of Kenya and Capital Markets Authority cautioned that no VASPs have been licensed beneath the Act to function in or from Kenya, warning that any agency claiming authorization is doing so illegally.
“The Cabinet Secretary, National Treasury… is creating and shall challenge Regulations for additional steering on implementation of the Act,” CBK and CMA acknowledged.
The regulators added that licensing will start solely after the National Treasury points detailed implementation rules at the moment beneath growth.
New Law Creates Framework But Leaves Gap Between Rules and Reality
The Virtual Assets Service Providers Act, gazetted on October 21 and efficient November 4, establishes the legislative framework for regulating cryptocurrency service suppliers in Kenya.
The legislation designates CBK and CMA as joint regulators accountable for licensing all VASPs, together with exchanges, custodial wallets, and digital asset platforms, whereas outlining obligations to forestall cash laundering and terrorism financing.
Kenya’s parliament handed the invoice in October following sustained lobbying from fintech advocates.
Finance committee chair Kuria Kimani mentioned the laws, modeled on US and UK frameworks, goals to fill a regulatory void that has stifled investor confidence.
The timing got here amid broader momentum throughout East Africa, as neighboring Uganda launched a $5.5 billion real-world asset tokenization project paired with a CBDC pilot in October.
Uganda’s $5.5B tokenization push features a CBDC pilot, whereas Kenya’s crypto invoice awaits its president’s sign-off. #CBDC #Kenya #Ugandahttps://t.co/ievMFqCM2K
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) October 9, 2025
Bitcoin Circulates Across Kenya
While the mall installations mark probably the most seen crypto infrastructure in Nairobi’s formal retail economic system, Bitcoin has already circulated in lower-income neighborhoods for years.
According to the Capital News, in Soweto West inside Kibera, fintech startup Afrobit Africa started Bitcoin-denominated grants in 2022, focusing on rubbish collectors who lacked IDs, financial institution accounts, or cell cash entry.
Workers obtain Bitcoin after weekend clean-ups slightly than shillings, with roughly $10,000 injected into the neighborhood.
Around 200 Bitcoin customers stay in Soweto West in the present day, with retailers and motorbike taxi drivers accepting crypto through the Lightning community for near-zero charges.
Damiano Magak, a 23-year-old rubbish collector, mentioned he typically prefers Bitcoin over M-PESA, citing increased transaction charges and occasional delays.
Global Crackdown on Crypto ATMs Intensifies
The unregulated emergence of Bitcoin ATMs in Kenya contrasts sharply with mounting worldwide enforcement towards comparable operations.
Just in the present day, federal prosecutors in Chicago indicted Firas Isa, founding father of Crypto Dispensers, in November on money-laundering conspiracy prices alleging his firm processed no less than $10 million in fraud and drug proceeds by ATMs nationwide between 2018 and 2025.
Federal prosecutors have charged a Chicago Bitcoin ATM firm founder with working a cash laundering conspiracy involving no less than $10 million in proceeds.#Bitcoin #Moneylaunderinghttps://t.co/XQxzpEwecB
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) November 19, 2025
The cost carries a most 20-year sentence, and Isa and Virtual Assets LLC have pleaded not responsible.
Back in October, Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced that AUSTRAC would obtain powers to limit or prohibit crypto ATMs after discovering that 85 % of funds from prime customers had been concerned in scams.
Australia’s machines surged from 73 in 2022 to over 2,000 by late 2024. The FBI reported practically 11,000 crypto ATM-related complaints in 2024, totaling greater than $246 million, whereas Federal Trade Commission knowledge confirmed losses jumped from $12 million in 2020 to $114 million in 2023, with victims aged 60 and above accounting for over two-thirds of instances.
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