Kenya / Licence categories / Virtual Asset Payment Processor

Virtual Asset Payment Processor

Virtual Asset Payment Processor: licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). Minimum paid-up capital KSh 10 million, licence fee KSh 200,000.

Regulator

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

Regulator

Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), per the First Schedule of the Act. VASP Act 2025, First Schedule official

What it covers

Payment gateway: arranging transactions involving virtual assets and fiat currency, or between virtual assets. VASP Act 2025, First Schedule official

Minimum paid-up capital

KSh 10,000,000, 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

100% of current liabilities for at least 30 days. VASP Regulations 2026, Fifth Schedule official

Fees

Application fee KSh 100,000 (forfeited if the application is withdrawn, reg. 5(2)); licence fee KSh 200,000; annual renewal tiered by gross annual transaction value, from KSh 20,000 (up to KSh 1 billion) to KSh 15,000,000 (above KSh 1 trillion). VASP Regulations 2026, First Schedule official

In practice

Payment gateways that let merchants accept crypto, or that pay out in shillings after receiving virtual assets, fall here. In a mobile-money economy it is the category most likely to cover services that link virtual assets to mobile-money payouts, although the Regulations do not mention mobile money or any provider by name. The capital floor is among the lowest, but the renewal fee scales with transaction value, so a large processor can pay up to KSh 15 million a year. Converting to or from foreign currency needs a separate CBK authorisation.

Category-specific duties

• apply separately to the CBK for authorisation before converting virtual assets to or from foreign currency (reg. 14), an authorisation that also expires on 31 December each year
• report monthly volumes, values and geographic distribution of transfers and payments, fraud incidents, outages and complaints (reg. 26(2))

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 CBK 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

Payments (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 CBK (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 Crypto Licence Costs: KSh 100 Million for an Exchange, KSh 300 Million for a Stablecoin
• Kenya's Crypto Rules Reach Foreign Exchanges: Office, CEO and a Stablecoin Listing Ban

Found an error? Report it · Corrections