Kenya / Licence categories / Initial Coin Offering Provider

Initial Coin Offering Provider

Initial Coin Offering Provider: licensed by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA). Minimum paid-up capital KSh 20 million, licence fee KSh 500,000.

Regulator

Licensed by the CMA · checked 22 Oct 2026
Kenya has two licensing authorities; the First Schedule of the Act assigns each activity to one of them.

Regulator

Capital Markets Authority (CMA), per the First Schedule of the Act. VASP Act 2025, First Schedule official

What it covers

Initial coin offering: issuing and selling virtual assets to the public, including related financial services. VASP Act 2025, First Schedule official

Minimum paid-up capital

KSh 20,000,000, held at licensing and at all times after; shareholder loans, borrowed money and revaluation reserves do not count (reg. 85(3) and (5)). VASP Regulations 2026, Fifth Schedule official

Liquid capital

KSh 4,000,000 or 8% of total liabilities, whichever is higher. VASP Regulations 2026, Fifth Schedule official

Fees

Application fee KSh 100,000 (forfeited if the application is withdrawn, reg. 5(2)); licence fee KSh 500,000; annual renewal KSh 500,000 or 0.15% of gross turnover, whichever is higher. VASP Regulations 2026, First Schedule official

In practice

Token sales to the public need both this licence and a separate CMA approval for each offering, based on a white paper whose contents are listed in regulation 54(3). Natural persons cannot issue or promote an offering at all (s. 34(2)). An approved offering must be run through a trading platform or system the CMA has approved, and the approval lapses after twelve months; extensions are limited to six months.

Category-specific duties

• obtain CMA approval of each offering with a white paper; the approval is valid for up to twelve months (regs. 49 to 51)
• pay an approval fee of 0.25% of the value of a successful offer, minimum KSh 200,000 and maximum KSh 30,000,000 (First Schedule)
• advertise only after the CMA says it has no objection, and only for the period stated in the application (reg. 56)

VASP Regulations 2026, Parts III to IX official

Deadline for existing operators

Anyone already providing virtual asset services must comply with the Act within one year of its commencement on 4 November 2025 (s. 47), which by our calculation is 4 November 2026. The Regulations contain no further transition period. VASP Act 2025, s. 47 official

Register

The CMA must publish a register of the licences it issues (s. 17) and gazette each grant within 30 days (s. 10(7)). We found no published VASP register; the CMA licensee directory, checked 22 Oct 2026, has no virtual-asset category. CMA licensee directory official

Group

Token offerings (Group)

Public statement

Not applicable: this page describes a licence category, not a firm.

Key Dates for This Category

• 4 Nov 2025The VASP Act 2025 commences; the activity needs a licence from the CMA (s. 8(2)). — new.kenyalaw.org official
• 22 Jul 2026The VASP Regulations 2026 (Legal Notice 134) set capital, fees and conduct rules for the category and open licensing. — cma.or.ke official
• 4 Nov 2026End of the one-year window for existing providers to comply (s. 47; date calculated by VASP Tracker). — new.kenyalaw.org official

Read More

• Kenya's Crypto Licensing Deadline Is 4 November 2026, and No Licence Register Has Been Published
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