Treasury cuts crypto firm capital floors up to 40%; stablecoins still Sh300m
Key points
- Treasury cut proposed minimum paid-up capital for cryptocurrency firms by up to 40% after industry pressure.
- Stablecoin issuers: Sh300m paid-up (down from Sh500m proposed); liquid capital Sh60m or 100% of current liabilities (30-day frame).
- Other tiers: wallets Sh150m; ICOs Sh20m; tokenisation Sh10m — each with matching liquid-capital floors.
- Rules implement the Virtual Assets Service Providers Act 2025 (effective November 2025); annual licence fee for some providers still up to Sh2m.
Kenya's crypto rulebook just got less brutal on entry capital. Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi published virtual-asset regulations that cut earlier minimum paid-up capital proposals by as much as 40 per cent, Business Daily reported, after warnings that sky-high floors would choke investment in a segment already moving imports and diaspora flows through stablecoins.
Stablecoin issuers still sit at the top of the ladder: Sh300 million paid-up capital, down from a proposed Sh500 million, with liquid capital of Sh60 million or 100 per cent of current liabilities for at least 30 days, whichever is higher. That remains a serious balance-sheet test — just no longer the half-billion shilling wall first floated.
Tiered floors across the stack
Wallet providers face about Sh150 million paid-up and Sh30 million liquid (or full current liabilities for 30 days). Initial coin offering providers are set near Sh20 million paid-up and Sh4 million liquid (or 8 per cent of total liabilities). Tokenisation businesses — packaging real-world or digital assets into tokens — land at about Sh10 million paid-up and Sh2 million liquid (or 8 per cent of liabilities). Annual licence fees for some virtual asset providers remain as high as Sh2 million for stablecoin-related insurers in the published frame.
The guidelines implement the Virtual Assets Service Providers Act 2025, which took effect in November 2025. Law first, capital second: operators still need licences, compliance programmes and custody standards even after the capital haircut.
Why markets care
Local traders already use stablecoins for import payments; diaspora Kenyans move remittances on tokens. Capital rules that price small innovators out would push activity offshore or into grey rails. Cutting the top proposal by up to 40 per cent is a competitiveness signal — but Sh300 million for stablecoin issuance still filters for well-capitalised players, not garage startups.
Business desk: Business. Watch how many VASP licence applications clear in the first 6 months and whether liquid-capital tests become the real choke point after paid-up numbers soften. A public register of licensed categories would let users verify before they wire.
Net: Treasury blinked on the headline capital wall without abandoning tiered prudence. The next test is whether licensed rails grow fast enough that informal stablecoin use shrinks rather than simply relocates.
Based on Business Daily reporting of Treasury VASP regulations. Gazette text and CBK/CMA guidance control enforceable capital and licence conditions.
