Kenyan lawmakers have requested the local blockchain association and industry representatives to develop a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency; this might position the country as the first in the world to take this step.
Kenya could become the first nation worldwide in which representatives of the cryptocurrency industry develop the regulatory framework.
The Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning of the National Assembly has reportedly instructed the Blockchain Association of Kenya (BAK) to draft the initial version of “a bill that could potentially govern virtual asset service providers.”
The Committee on Finance and National Planning invited BAK representatives on October 31 to debate the regulation of digital assets.
The legal and policy director of BAK, Allan Kakai, provided Mariblock, a local media outlet, with information regarding the meeting’s specifics:
“Basically, we are telling [the] parliament: ‘Look, Kenya has always branded itself as the Silicon Savannah; we are top three for digital assets [volume in Africa], and if we do not develop a clear licensing and regulatory framework, Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius would take the lead, and the capital flow that would have come to Kenya would have flocked elsewhere.”
The committee subsequently granted the BAK a two-month extension to conceive the crypto measure.
The message on the official X (previously Twitter) account of the committee states that it “strongly urges the Association to engage in comprehensive public education regarding cryptocurrency trade to dispel any misconceptions surrounding it.”
Kenya enacted the Financial Act 2023 in September 2023, which mandates cryptocurrency exchanges to retain 3% “of the transfer or exchange value of the digital asset.”
The BAK, whose members could not dissuade legislators from passing this cryptocurrency tax at the May meeting, has filed a High Court of Kenya complaint against it.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, co-founded the contentious digital ID cryptocurrency project Worldcoin, which was met with severe opposition from Kenyan authorities.
A parliamentary committee within the Kenyan government advised regulators to cease the project’s activities in the nation due to concerns regarding collecting personal data.
