Over the last two years, the Kenyan government and central bank have been discussing how to regulate and other digital currencies. In March 2018, the Central Bank of Kenya warned the general public about investments. After those warnings, the region’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) cautioned the public again after investigating a project called kenicoin. Even though financial regulators are dressing down digital currencies, Kenyan merchants and traders in the region are still flocking toward the crypto asset economy.
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Kenyan Crypto Trade Volumes Show Increased Demand for Digital Assets
The government in Kenya and the financial regulators have been leery toward regulating and other digital currencies. The mulled over regulatory guidelines in the summer of 2018, while last month Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) warned the public about digital currencies because of an initial coin offering (ICO) called kenicoin. The project allegedly sold 10 million and promised 10 percent monthly returns after the initial purchase. However, even though Kenya’s financial watchdogs are cautioning against investing and , they have been powerless to stop the steady trend of acceptance and rising trade volumes within the country.
Kenyans have a wide variety of exchange avenues to choose from if they want to purchase like . This includes popular platforms like , , , , and . Localbitcoins volumes in Kenya have been consistently strong. At the time of writing, for Feb. 16, 2019 indicate 29,701,339 Kenya shillings ($297,000) traded on Localbitcoins in Kenya over the last two weeks. in Kenya shillings (KES) are also significantly higher than usual with 4,679,664 KES ($48,000) traded over the last two weeks on the peer-to-peer exchange. According to Crypto Compare’s pairs analysis, core () purchases account for $3,418 (KES 341,876) in daily trades stemming from .
Merchant acceptance is still growing in Kenya as well according to a from the BBC outlet published on Feb. 22. The (BAK) explained in an interview that digital currency awareness has increased, despite regulators in the region warning about them. BAK details that Kenyans are using and other digital assets to pay for education in Kenya and Nigeria and to purchase products in and is also empowering many Kenyan freelancers. The nonprofit organization believes -based currencies can reduce transaction costs and boost local remittances.
Last December, ..com on the which started accepting for payments for goods and services. This year Tony Mwongera, Healthland Spa’s chief executive, explained he uses the virtual currency mainly to avoid theft but the business also enjoys the convenience.
”I decided to adopt the use of because there was so much theft in my business,” Mwongera told reporters on Friday. The spa owner continued:
So I said, let me use a way that can be safe, secure and I can also embrace technology.
Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority Thinks Blockchain Firms Are Okay as Long as ‘They Don’t Deal With Cryptocurrencies’
Kenya’s BAK is also hosting a World Summit in Nairobi on March 20 in order to bolster solutions and technology in the country. However, Kenya’s CMA is also organizing a financial technology incubation platform set to launch this May, but projects and developers are barred from attending the sandbox. The CMA chief executive officer Paul Muthaura last Thursday that the agency would evaluate distributed projects under certain conditions.
“In the validation, we have 70 companies, some from outside Kenya. firms will be considered so long as they are not dealing with since the CMA’s mandate does not extend to currency,” Muthaura said.
Muthaura further reiterated what the CMA and Kenyan central bank underscored in the past: that have zero oversight and regulators could not help retail investors with financial losses. On Thursday the CME executive said he believes digital assets bring new risks to the world of finance that can destabilize traditional markets and possibly hurt retail investors a great deal. Despite the warnings, statistics and tales of merchant indicate that Kenyan crypto traders and volumes continue to thrive in 2019.
What do you think about trade volumes in Kenya rising despite the warnings from the central bank and CMA? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.
Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Twitter, and Coin Dance.
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Published at Sun, 24 Feb 2019 00:57:09 +0000
