Kenya’s Treasury Secretary has been tasked with the responsibility of investigating the current state of cryptocurrency adoption in the country, which has so far been growing with no regulations. In a couple of weeks, he is to give his report to parliament, advising them how to proceed with regulating cryptocurrencies.
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Decision in Two Weeks
Henry Rotich.
The Kenyan parliament has reportedly given Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich two weeks to decide whether cryptocurrencies need to be regulated, Business Daily Africa reported on Wednesday.
The Finance and National Planning Committee questioned Rotich about the use of bitcoin in the country. Specifically, the committee asked “why the Treasury and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) allowed people to venture into the unregulated cryptocurrency space without being licensed to operate and taxed,” the news outlet detailed and quoted the chairman of the committee, Joseph Limo, saying:
We are surprised to hear that even the CBK is not aware that there is a lounge at Kenyatta University, an ATM in town, and a hotel in Nyeri which trade in bitcoins. There is a bigger problem in Kenya since people are trading billions in virtual space yet the Treasury has not licensed and taxed it like trade in M-Pesa and bank transactions.
When to Start Regulating
Rotich admitted that there is a lot of interest in cryptocurrency, adding that he will look into whether there are crypto exchanges operating in the country. So far, “I am not aware of people operating locally…But I will endeavour to find out whether we have local exchangers,” the publication quoted him.
After explaining that the central bank will identify any local crypto exchanges and evaluate their risks to see
