Kenya: President signed Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill 2025 including operational licence requirement

On 15 October 2025, the President of Kenya signed the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 (Act No. 20 of 2025) into law. The Act prohibits any person from carrying on, or purporting to carry on, the business of virtual asset services in or from Kenya without a licence granted by the relevant regulatory authority. Eligibility is restricted to local companies incorporated under the Companies Act (Cap. 486) and foreign companies issued with a certificate of compliance under the Companies Act (Cap. 486). Natural persons are prohibited from carrying on virtual asset services in or from Kenya. The Capital Markets Authority and the Central Bank of Kenya are designated as the relevant regulatory authorities, with jurisdiction allocated by activity type as set out in the First Schedule to the Act. Permissible activities subject to the licensing requirement include custodial wallet services, virtual asset exchange, payment processing, brokerage, investment advisory, asset management, initial coin offerings, tokenisation, and stablecoin issuance. A person who contravenes the prohibition on unlicensed operation commits a criminal offence and is liable, upon conviction, to a fine not exceeding KES 10 million or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or both, in the case of an individual, and to a fine not exceeding KES 25 million in the case of a company. The Act enters into force on 4 November 2025, and persons providing virtual asset services at the date of commencement will have one year to comply with the provisions of the Act.