Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa: Three Crypto Licensing Regimes at Three Different Stages

The short version: Three African crypto-licensing regimes are at very different stages. South Africa's FSCA list shows 298 licensed crypto asset service providers (our South Africa tracker). In Nigeria, 14 firms hold an SEC Approval-in-Principle under its accelerated incubation programme, which the SEC says is not a final licence (our Nigeria tracker). In Kenya, no VASP licence register has been published by the CBK or the CMA, with the transition ending on 4 November 2026.

Side by Side

Nigeria and South Africa figures are from the official lists behind our trackers, read 22 Oct 2026; South Africa's list is dated March 2026.

What Kenya Did Differently

Kenya wrote a single statute for virtual asset service providers and split supervision by activity: the central bank takes custody, payments and stablecoins, the securities regulator takes trading, broking, advice, management and token offerings (Act, First Schedule). South Africa folded crypto into its existing financial advisory and intermediary licensing; Nigeria routes firms through an SEC incubation stage before full registration. Kenya's Regulations also set a coordination forum of nineteen named agencies chaired by the National Treasury, from the Financial Reporting Centre and the Kenya Revenue Authority to the National Intelligence Service, meeting at least quarterly (Regulations, regs. 145 to 147, Sixth Schedule).

The Numbers That Matter for Firms

A South African applicant has had more than three years; by 31 March 2026 the FSCA had received 533 applications and approved 310 (FSCA data). Kenya's existing operators had 105 days between the final Regulations and the end of the transition, and a regulator decision clock of thirty days after a complete file (Regulations, reg. 6(4)). Kenya's capital floor for an exchange, KSh 100 million, applies from the day of licensing (all categories).

The FATF Background

Kenya has been under the FATF's increased monitoring, the “grey list”, since February 2024 and was still listed after the June 2026 plenary (FATF, 19 June 2026). The FATF's published action items for Kenya do not name virtual assets; they concern risk-based supervision, suspicious-transaction reporting, beneficial ownership, financial intelligence, prosecutions, targeted financial sanctions and non-profit oversight. The VASP Act does make licensed providers reporting institutions under the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act and gives the CBK and CMA AML supervision powers over them (Act, ss. 32, 48, Second Schedule). South Africa and Nigeria were both removed from the list at the FATF plenary of 22 to 24 October 2025 (FATF). The next FATF plenary, which will review jurisdictions under increased monitoring, meets in Paris from 28 to 30 October 2026, less than a week before the Kenyan deadline (FATF, 20 October 2026).

Elsewhere on VASP Tracker: crypto licensing deadlines in every jurisdiction we track.