Kenya’s Markets Regulator Seeks Blockchain Tool to Track Crypto Crime

Kenya’s securities regulator wants one blockchain surveillance system to help monitor the country’s fast-growing crypto market as it prepares to license and oversee virtual asset companies under a new law.

The Capital Markets Authority is seeking an advanced blockchain analytics platform to monitor digital asset transactions, investigate suspicious activity and enforce compliance, according to tender documents seen by Capital FM Africa. The system would follow suit Bitcoin, Ethereumand at least twenty other blockchains, both real-time and retroactive.

Tracking crypto flows

The platform would generate automated alerts for risky situations purseslarge wire transfers, coin mixers, darknet-linked addresses and sanctioned entities, and screen transactions against United Nations and U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions lists.

It would also map the relationships between wallets, reconstruct the timelines of transactions, track funds across chains and assign risk scores associated with money laundering, ransomware, fraud and terrorist financing. The regulator said it wants to identify the exchanges most used by Kenyans and identify unlicensed offshore platforms servicing the local market.

The capabilities described mirror those of tools sold by blockchain intelligence firms such as Chainalysis, TRM Labs and Elliptic, which market similar software to governments and regulators around the world.

Kenya’s new crypto regime

The purchase would support Kenya’s Virtual Assets Service Providers Act, which President William Ruto signed into law in October and came into effect in November, giving the country its first comprehensive crypto framework. The law divides supervision between the Central Bank of Kenya, with regard to payments, stable coinsand custodial portfolios, and the CMA, which regulates exchanges, brokers, investment advisers and tokenization platforms, are part of a broader effort to align with the Financial Action Task Force’s anti-money laundering standards.

No companies 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 the largest crypto markets in Africa. Residents received approximately $19 billion in cryptocurrency between July 2024 and June 2025, ranking the country fourth on the continent, according to Chainalysis. It is estimated that more than six million Kenyans use digital assets, largely through informal, peer-to-peer channels.

Kenya is far from alone in reaching for such tools. In the US, Immigration and Customs Enforcement last year moved to buy forensic software from both TRM Labs and Chainalysis, which already have contracts with the FBI, DEA and IRS, while the UK tax authorities, HMRC, have turned to TRM Labs to detect suspicious transactions.