short
- The Kenya Capital Markets Authority is seeking to purchase a blockchain analytics platform to monitor the virtual assets market in the country.
- The tool will monitor Bitcoin, Ethereum, and at least 20 other networks for fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing, and sanctions evasion.
- The move comes on the heels of the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act 2025, which brought Kenya’s cryptocurrency sector under formal regulation for the first time.
Kenya’s securities regulator wants to buy… blockchain A monitoring system to help monitor the country’s fast-growing cryptocurrency market, as it prepares to license and supervise virtual asset companies under a new law.
The Capital Markets Authority is seeking an advanced blockchain analytics platform to monitor digital asset transactions, investigate suspicious activity, and enforce compliance, according to tender documents. seen before Capital FM Africa. Will track the order Bitcoin, EthereumAnd at least 20 other blockchains, both real-time and retrospective.
Track crypto flows
The platform will generate automatic alerts for high risks governorbig transfers, Coin mixersAddresses associated with the dark web and sanctioned entities, and screening of transactions according to UN and US Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions lists.
It will also identify relationships between wallets, reconstruct transaction timelines, track funds across chains, and assign risk scores associated with money laundering, ransomware, fraud, and terrorist financing. The regulator said it wants to identify the exchanges most used by Kenyans and discover unlicensed offshore platforms serving the local market.
The capabilities described mirror those of tools sold by blockchain intelligence companies such as Chainalogy, TRM Labs, and Elliptic, which market similar software to governments and regulators around the world.
New encryption system in Kenya
The purchase will support Kenya Virtual Asset Service Providers Actwhich was signed into law by President William Ruto in October and took effect in November, giving the country its first comprehensive framework for cryptocurrencies. the law Supervision is divided between the Central Bank of Kenya, covering payments, stablecoinsCustody wallets and the Financial Market Authority, which regulates exchanges, brokers, investment advisers and tokenization platforms, are part of a broader drive to comply with anti-money laundering standards set by the Financial Action Task Force.
No company has been licensed yet. Published by the National Treasury Draft regulations in March, and existing operators have until November 2026 to comply.
Kenya is one of the largest cryptocurrency markets in Africa. Residents received about $19 billion in cryptocurrencies between July 2024 and June 2025, ranking the country fourth on the continent, according to String analysisand more than six million Kenyans estimated To use digital assets, mostly through informal peer-to-peer channels.
Kenya is not alone in having access to such tools. In the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement last year moved to… He buys The forensic software is from both TRM Labs and Chainasis, which already has contracts with the FBI, DEA, and IRS, while the UK tax authority, HMRC, has contracts with the FBI, DEA, and IRS. brought on TRM Labs to track suspicious transactions.
Daily debriefing Newsletter
Start each day with the latest news, plus original features, podcasts, videos and more.
