Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority Seeks Blockchain Analytics System to Track Crypto Crime
Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority is seeking a blockchain analytics system to strengthen its ability to monitor cryptocurrency transactions, investigate suspicious activity and supervise virtual asset businesses operating in the country.
The regulator has published a tender titled “Supply, Implementation, Training and Maintenance of a Virtual Assets Blockchain Analytics System.” The procurement notice appears on the CMA’s official tender portal.
The proposed system would give the authority greater visibility into transactions conducted through public blockchain networks and help officials identify activity potentially connected to fraud, money laundering, terrorism financing, sanctions evasion and other financial crimes.
However, the announcement does not mean that the CMA has already deployed the system. The project remains at the procurement stage, with the regulator looking for a suitable technology provider to supply, integrate, maintain and provide training for the platform.
What the CMA Wants the System to Do
According to details reported from the tender documents, the CMA wants a secure and scalable platform capable of analysing both real-time and historical blockchain transactions.
The system is expected to help the regulator:
- Trace virtual assets as they move between different wallets.
- Identify connections between related wallet addresses.
- Screen wallets against international sanctions databases.
- Flag suspicious transactions and high-risk addresses.
- Detect links to fraud, ransomware, darknet markets and crypto mixers.
- Generate evidence and intelligence for regulatory investigations.
- Monitor licensed and prospective virtual asset service providers.
The tender reportedly calls for coverage of Bitcoin, Ethereum and at least 20 additional blockchain networks. The platform would also generate automated alerts for unusual transfers, sanctioned entities and wallets connected to potentially illegal activity.
The CMA described the overall objective as improving its capacity to “monitor, analyse, investigate and respond” to risks associated with virtual assets and the businesses offering crypto-related services.
It Is an Analytics Tool, Not a New Blockchain
The term “blockchain system” can sometimes suggest that the CMA intends to build its own blockchain network.
That is not what the tender describes.
The regulator is seeking a blockchain analytics platform, sometimes referred to as blockchain intelligence or blockchain forensics software. These tools analyse information already recorded on public blockchain networks.
Public blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum maintain transaction records that can be viewed by anyone. However, interpreting millions of wallet addresses and tracing funds across multiple transactions can be difficult without specialised software.
Blockchain analytics platforms organise this information, map relationships between wallets and assign risk indicators based on known illicit addresses, sanctions databases and transaction patterns.
The technology does not automatically reveal the real-world identity behind every crypto wallet. Investigators generally need additional information from exchanges, financial institutions, internet providers or other sources to connect a blockchain address to a specific person or organisation.
Supporting Kenya’s New Crypto Regulatory Framework
The procurement comes as Kenya moves from a largely unregulated crypto environment toward a formal licensing and supervisory framework.
The Virtual Assets Service Providers Act, 2025 was gazetted on October 21, 2025 and came into effect on November 4, 2025. The law established a framework for regulating virtual asset service providers and placed anti-money laundering, terrorism-financing and proliferation-financing obligations on covered businesses.
The Act assigned regulatory responsibilities to both the Central Bank of Kenya and the Capital Markets Authority.
The CMA is expected to oversee capital-markets-related virtual asset activities, including crypto exchanges, brokers, investment advisers, asset managers and certain tokenisation services. The Central Bank is expected to oversee payment-related activities, stablecoins and some wallet and custody services.
Implementing regulations are also being developed to provide more detailed guidance on licensing, governance, consumer protection, capital requirements and compliance standards.
In March 2026, the CMA published the Draft Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations, 2026 for public consultation.
The blockchain analytics tender therefore appears to be part of the technical infrastructure Kenya needs to enforce the new rules once licensing and active supervision begin.
Kenya’s FATF Grey-List Commitments
The procurement also comes as Kenya works to address weaknesses identified by the Financial Action Task Force.
Kenya has been under increased FATF monitoring, commonly referred to as the grey list, since February 2024.
In its February 2026 update, FATF acknowledged that Kenya had strengthened the capacity of anti-money laundering supervisors and adopted a legal framework for licensing and supervising virtual asset service providers.
However, FATF said Kenya still needed to improve risk-based supervision, financial intelligence, money-laundering investigations, prosecutions and other parts of its financial-crime framework.
A blockchain analytics system could support these efforts by helping regulators and investigators trace digital assets and produce more actionable financial intelligence.
The tool alone, however, will not resolve Kenya’s wider financial-crime challenges. Its effectiveness will depend on trained investigators, cooperation between agencies, access to information from crypto platforms and the ability to pursue cases through the courts.
