State of crypto in Kenya

As of 2022, Kenya remains one of the three largest Bitcoin markets in the African continent, standing alongside crypto giants such as Nigeria and South Africa.² They continue to be among the leading adopters of cryptocurrency as they remain in the top 20 in Chainalysis’s 2022 Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index Report.³ Kenya’s huge market share in Bitcoin was reflected in statistics reported by LocalBitcoins, a firm that facilitates over-the-counter trading of local currencies for Bitcoins. The trading platform revealed that Kenya hit record-high numbers in terms of trading volume of cryptocurrencies on P2P transactions.⁴ LocalBitcoin’s Head of Business Development, Vladislav Alimpev, stated that “The record trading volume in Kenya was achieved during the second week of January 2021 when as much as KES 150 million worth of Bitcoin was traded on our platform, which amounts to $1.3million. $1.3million puts Kenya in the top echelon of the countries on LocalBitcoins by trading volume. Only a handful of countries have ever broken that $ 1 million a week barrier”.⁵ Similar to many of their African counterparts, many continue to adopt cryptocurrencies as their main form of assets as a way to preserve their purchasing power in face of their local currency devaluation.⁶ According to a UN survey about the crypto climate within Africa, Kenya has the highest proportion of its people holding cryptocurrencies within the African continent.⁷

Nonetheless, Kenya’s enthusiasm for crypto did not fall on deaf ears as the Central Bank of Kenya made the decision to adopt crypto as its reserve currency, in an attempt to tackle the rising financial crisis in the nation.₈ Furthermore, the Kenyan government is putting in measures to innovate its financial sector. In their recent Vision 2030 proposal, the Kenyan Ministry of ICT is developing the National Payments Vision and Strategy, with one of its main priorities being regulation and security for digital payments.₉