Major Crypto Firms Line Up for Kenyan Licences Under New VASP Rules
Kenya’s cryptocurrency market is entering a new phase as some of the biggest digital asset companies serving African users prepare to seek formal licences under the country’s new Virtual Asset Service Provider framework.
Binance, Yellow Card, VALR, Luno and Kenya-founded Kotani Pay have all indicated that they intend to participate in the licensing process, although the companies are at different stages of preparation and should not yet be described as having received Kenyan licences.
The development follows the introduction of the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 and the subsequent Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations, 2026. The Capital Markets Authority lists both instruments as part of Kenya’s formal regulatory framework for virtual assets.
For Kenya, the immediate test will be whether the new rules can attract serious global and African crypto businesses while maintaining a sufficiently high bar for consumer protection, financial crime controls and operational security.
Kenya Has Moved From Crypto Uncertainty to Formal Licensing
Kenya’s Virtual Asset Service Providers Act was assented to in October 2025 and came into force on November 4, 2025. The law establishes a formal framework for licensing and regulating virtual asset service providers operating in or from Kenya.
One of its central principles is clear: a business cannot carry on a regulated virtual asset service in or from Kenya without obtaining the appropriate licence from the relevant regulatory authority.
The detailed regulations take the framework further by setting out what companies must provide when applying. The VASP regulations published by the Central Bank of Kenya include requirements covering directors, senior officers, significant shareholders, beneficial owners, business plans, source of funds, risk-management policies, anti-money laundering controls and cybersecurity systems.
The framework is also designed to reach beyond companies physically incorporated in Kenya. A provider may fall within the Kenyan regulatory perimeter where it derives economic benefit or income from Kenya, even without maintaining a large physical presence locally.
That is particularly important for global exchanges that have historically served Kenyan users through websites, apps and peer-to-peer markets without establishing the same type of local regulatory presence expected of banks and other traditional financial institutions.
Binance Says It Intends to Apply
Binance is among the most significant names preparing to enter the licensing process.
The exchange has said that it intends to apply for a Kenyan licence, although it had not publicly confirmed all the licence categories it would pursue at the time of reporting. Comments attributed to Binance Africa Head of Legal Larry Cooke described Kenya’s new framework as an important step toward a more clearly regulated digital asset market.
Binance’s interest is significant because the company is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges and has long served users across Africa.
Its decision to pursue local authorisation would mark a shift from a model in which many global exchanges could serve African markets remotely without country-specific approval.
However, an intention to apply is not the same as having submitted or received a licence.
Kenyan regulators have not publicly announced that Binance has been approved as a licensed VASP.
Yellow Card Plans Exchange and Payment Licences
Yellow Card is also preparing to enter the licensing process.
The stablecoin infrastructure company reportedly plans to seek approvals covering exchange-platform and payment-processing activities in Kenya.
Yellow Card’s move fits with its broader transition from a consumer crypto platform into a business-to-business stablecoin and payments infrastructure company. The company currently describes itself as providing stablecoin infrastructure for businesses and financial institutions, including tools for moving between fiat currencies and digital dollars.
Its existing licences and registrations page shows regulatory permissions across several jurisdictions, including African markets such as Botswana and South Africa. Kenya, however, is not yet listed there as a jurisdiction in which Yellow Card holds an approved VASP licence.
That distinction matters.
Yellow Card may be preparing to apply, but users should not interpret that as meaning the company is already licensed under Kenya’s new regime.
VALR Wants a Broader Set of Licences
South African exchange VALR appears to be considering one of the broader licensing footprints among companies publicly discussing their Kenyan plans.
VALR has indicated that it expects to seek approval covering areas such as virtual asset exchange services, custody and wallet provision, and payment processing.
For VALR, local authorisation could make Kenya part of a broader regulated African expansion strategy.
The company already operates within South Africa’s crypto regulatory framework and has increasingly positioned itself toward institutional trading, custody and financial infrastructure rather than functioning solely as a retail crypto exchange.
Kenya’s new rules could provide VALR with an opportunity to build banking, payment and institutional partnerships under a clearer legal framework.
Luno Is Still Deciding Which Licences Fit Its Strategy
Luno has also signalled an intention to participate, but its position illustrates why saying all of these companies have already “applied” would be inaccurate.
The company is still assessing which licence categories best fit its long-term Kenyan strategy.
Luno has been considering business areas such as institutional trading, stablecoin treasury services, global settlement and embedded wallet infrastructure.
This means the company appears committed to participating in Kenya’s regulated crypto market, while still working through the precise scope of the licences it may need.
The distinction is important because Kenya has not created one universal “crypto licence.”
Different services can fall under different regulatory categories.
Kotani Pay Also Plans to Apply
Kenya-founded blockchain payments company Kotani Pay has also indicated that it plans to seek authorisation under the VASP framework.
The company’s participation is particularly important because Kenya’s licensing regime is not attracting only large foreign exchanges.
Local blockchain and crypto companies will also have to determine how their existing products fit within the new regulatory categories.
That could eventually create a market in which international exchanges, African crypto companies and Kenyan fintech startups compete under broadly similar licensing, consumer-protection and compliance standards.
CBK and CMA Divide Oversight
Kenya’s framework uses more than one regulator.
The VASP Act designates the Central Bank of Kenya and Capital Markets Authority as key regulatory authorities, depending on the type of virtual asset activity involved.
During passage of the legislation, the framework placed significant responsibilities around stablecoin and payment-related activities with the Central Bank, while exchange and trading activities fall more naturally within the Capital Markets Authority’s mandate.
The division of responsibilities between regulators matters for companies offering several services at once.
An exchange that also provides custody, payment processing, wallet infrastructure or stablecoin-related services may need to determine which approvals apply to each part of its business instead of assuming one licence covers everything.
The Rules Go Beyond Simply Registering a Company
Obtaining a Kenyan VASP licence will involve far more than filing a company-registration form.
The VASP regulations require applicants to disclose detailed information about ownership, directors, management experience, technology systems and funding.
Companies must also demonstrate policies and controls covering areas such as:
- Risk management
- Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing
- Cybersecurity and information technology
- Customer complaints
- Market integrity
- Consumer protection
The underlying VASP Act also gives regulators powers to impose capital and solvency requirements, supervise customer-asset protection and enforce standards for marketing, governance and data protection.
These requirements make Kenya’s regime closer to conventional financial-services supervision than to a simple crypto company registry.
Cybersecurity Is a Major Part of the Framework
Crypto exchanges face risks that differ from those of many ordinary fintech companies.
A security failure can expose private keys, customer assets or transaction systems, potentially resulting in irreversible financial losses.
Kenya’s regulations therefore require applicants to provide cybersecurity and information-technology policies as part of the licensing process.
The VASP Act also requires providers to comply with prescribed cybersecurity standards and applicable Kenyan data-protection requirements.
For international exchanges, that could mean adapting global security and compliance systems to satisfy Kenya-specific reporting, governance and operational requirements.
AML Rules Will Be Equally Important
Anti-money laundering compliance is another central part of the new framework.
The Act allows regulators to supervise providers for compliance with anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and counter-proliferation financing obligations.
Regulators can examine beneficial owners, directors and significant shareholders, conduct inspections and request information necessary for supervision.
For users, this may mean regulated platforms asking for more identity information, source-of-funds documentation and transaction details than some crypto customers have historically been accustomed to providing.
For banks and institutional partners, however, stronger compliance standards could make partnerships with licensed crypto companies easier to justify.
Existing Providers Face a Compliance Deadline
Kenya’s VASP Act includes a transition period for companies that were already providing virtual asset services when the legislation took effect.
The law provides a one-year compliance period for existing providers.
Because the Act commenced on November 4, 2025, that transition period runs to November 4, 2026.
That creates a practical countdown for companies already serving Kenyan customers.
The question for large exchanges is therefore no longer simply whether Kenya will regulate cryptocurrency.
It is whether they want to continue serving the market through a structure that satisfies Kenya’s licensing requirements.
The public positions of Binance, Yellow Card, VALR, Luno and Kotani Pay suggest that several important companies have decided that the Kenyan market is worth pursuing.
