Overview
- The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) of Kenya plans to invest in a blockchain analytics platform to regulate the country's virtual asset market.
- This tool will monitor Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a minimum of 20 other networks to detect fraud, money laundering, terrorism financing, and evasion of sanctions.
- This initiative follows the enactment of the Virtual Assets Service Providers Act of 2025, marking the first formal regulation of Kenya's cryptocurrency sector.
The CMA is looking to procure a blockchain surveillance solution to oversee the rapidly expanding cryptocurrency sector in Kenya, as it gears up to license and regulate virtual asset companies in accordance with a new law.
According to tender documents reviewed by Capital FM Africa, the authority seeks a sophisticated blockchain analytics system to monitor digital asset transactions, probe suspicious behaviors, and ensure compliance. This system would keep tabs on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and at least 20 additional blockchains, both in real-time and retrospectively.
Monitoring Cryptocurrency Transactions
The platform is designed to automatically alert authorities to high-risk wallets, substantial transfers, coin mixers, addresses linked to the dark web, and sanctioned entities. It will cross-reference transactions with sanctions lists from the United Nations and the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Additionally, the system will map connections between wallets, recreate transaction timelines, trace funds across different chains, and assign risk scores related to money laundering, ransomware, fraud, and terrorism financing. The CMA aims to identify the exchanges most frequently utilized by Kenyans and to uncover unlicensed offshore platforms operating in the local market.
The functionalities described are similar to those offered by blockchain intelligence companies like Chainalysis, TRM Labs, and Elliptic, which provide comparable tools to governments and regulatory bodies globally.
Kenya's Emerging Cryptocurrency Framework
This acquisition would bolster Kenya's Virtual Assets Service Providers Act, recently signed into law by President William Ruto in October and effective from November, establishing the first comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrency in the nation. The law divides oversight responsibilities between the Central Bank of Kenya, which handles payments, stablecoins, and custodial wallets, and the CMA, which supervises exchanges, brokers, investment advisors, and tokenization platforms, as part of a broader effort to comply with anti-money-laundering standards set by the Financial Action Task Force.
As of now, no firms have received licenses. The National Treasury released draft regulations in March, and existing operators are required to comply by November 2026.
Kenya is a significant player in Africa's cryptocurrency landscape, having received approximately $19 billion in crypto from July 2024 to June 2025, ranking it fourth on the continent, according to Chainalysis. Additionally, more than six million Kenyans are estimated to engage with digital assets, largely through informal, peer-to-peer methods.
This pursuit of blockchain tracking tools is not unique to Kenya; in the U.S., the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency sought to acquire forensics software from TRM Labs and Chainalysis, which already provide services to the FBI, DEA, and IRS. Similarly, the UK's HMRC has partnered with TRM Labs for tracing suspicious transactions.