- Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) is seeking to purchase a blockchain analytics platform to monitor virtual assets.
- The tool will track Bitcoin, Ethereum, and at least 20 other networks to detect fraud, money laundering, and terrorism financing.
- The move follows the Virtual Assets Service Providers Act of 2025, which established Kenya’s first formal crypto regulatory framework.
Kenya’s securities regulator is seeking a blockchain surveillance system to police the country’s growing crypto market as it prepares to license firms under a new law. The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) wants an advanced analytics platform to monitor digital asset transactions and enforce compliance, according to tender documents seen by Capital FM Africa.
The system would track Bitcoin, Ethereum, and at least 20 other blockchains in real time and retrospectively. It would generate automated alerts for high-risk wallets, large transfers, coin mixers, and sanctioned entities, screening transactions against United Nations and U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions lists.
The platform would also map wallet relationships, reconstruct transaction timelines, trace funds across chains, and assign risk scores for money laundering and Ransomware. The regulator wants to identify the exchanges most used by Kenyans and detect unlicensed offshore platforms serving the local market.
The purchase supports Kenya’s Virtual Assets Service Providers Act, signed into law in October and effective in November. The law splits oversight between the Central Bank of Kenya and the CMA, aligning with anti-money-laundering standards set by the Financial Action Task Force.
No firms have been licensed yet. The National Treasury published draft regulations in March, and existing operators have until November 2026 to comply. Kenya is one of Africa’s largest crypto markets, with residents receiving about $19 billion in crypto between July 2024 and June 2025, ranking fourth on the continent according to Chainalysis. More than six million Kenyans are estimated to use digital assets, much of it through peer-to-peer channels.
Kenya is not alone in pursuing these tools. In the U.S., Immigration and Customs Enforcement moved last year to buy forensics software from both TRM Labs and Chainalysis, while Britain’s tax authority, HMRC, has brought on TRM Labs to trace suspect transactions.
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