Kenya Lawmakers Push for Crypto Bill

Kenya could be the first country in the world where industry representatives develop a crypto regulatory framework.

The National Assembly's Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, based on the statements of the Blockchain Association of Kenya (BAK), has directed it to prepare a preliminary draft of "what could become a virtual asset service provider's bill."

The Committee on Finance and National Planning invited BAK representatives to discuss digital asset regulation on October 31. Allan Kakai, BAK's legal and policy director, told the local media about the meeting, Mariblock:

“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 responded by giving the BAK two months to draft the crypto bill.

The message on the committee's official X (formerly Twitter) account only states that the committee "urged the Association to undertake robust public education on cryptocurrency trade to demystify it."

Kenya introduced the Financial Act 2023 in September 2023, requiring cryptocurrency exchanges to withhold 3% "of the transfer or exchange value of the digital asset."

The BAK, whose members were unable to persuade lawmakers not to pass the crypto tax at the May meeting, filed a complaint to the Kenyan High Court.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/kenyan-lawmakers-blockchain-association-crypto-bill

https://twitter.com/BlockchainKenya/status/1721464312332460054

https://www.mariblock.com/kenyan-lawmakers-task-lobby-group-to-draft-crypto-bill/

https://twitter.com/NACommitteeKE/status/1719343112969937373

https://techcabal.com/2023/09/01/bak-moved-to-court-to-block-crypo-taxes/