Kenya's crypto sector is about to discover what it feels like to have a regulator watching, and that regulator is now actively recruiting.
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) is hiring for senior and managerial roles to oversee licensing and compliance for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), even as the regulations governing the sector are being finalised. On Monday, the regulator posted four positions within its Digital Payment Services Division on its careers portal, all closing May 18. The roles span licensing, product approval, and compliance oversight of virtual asset service providers.
It is the first time the licensing authority has advertised roles specifically dedicated to VASPs, a sign that it is assembling capacity ahead of what could be an imminent regulatory rollout.
A manager-level hire would lead the licensing function, reviewing applications, recommending approvals or rejections, and developing standard operating procedures for the new VASP regime. Two deputy manager positions would respectively handle licensing and product approval, and oversight and compliance, the latter focused on risk-based supervision. A senior licensing analyst role rounds out the team, focused on application review and regulatory guidance for incoming VASP applicants.
The hiring arrives at a moment of deliberate regulatory momentum. The recruitment comes seven months after Kenya's parliament passed the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act in October 2025, which for the first time created a legal framework for the country's crypto sector. Under that law, the CBK will oversee virtual assets used for payments, carving out a market where crypto-linked remittances and mobile money integrations have grown steadily.
The subordinate regulations, however, are not yet in place. The National Treasury drafted the VASP Regulations in March and opened them for public comment until April 10. They have yet to be gazetted. Under the draft framework, the CBK will regulate payment-related crypto firms and stablecoin dealers, while the Capital Markets Authority will supervise exchanges, brokers, and tokenisation platforms, a dual-regulator model designed to match oversight to activity type.
The stakes behind this institutional build-up are significant. Between July 2024 and June 2025, Kenyans received about $19 billion in cryptocurrency inflows, according to Chainalysis, and more than six million Kenyans use crypto. That makes Kenya East Africa's largest digital asset market and one of the most active on the continent, behind only Nigeria.
An outright ban on virtual asset activities was formally considered and explicitly rejected as a policy option. The government concluded that prohibition would carry prohibitive enforcement costs and would inadvertently suppress technological innovation and place Kenyan citizens and businesses at a competitive disadvantage within the rapidly evolving global digital economy.
Kenya joins a growing list of African countries, including Rwanda and Ghana, moving to bring crypto under formal oversight, but the gap between legislating and regulating remains a challenge across the continent. For now, the CBK is hiring, with or without the rulebook fully written.
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