Amid the polit­i­cal hul­la­baloo in Kenya and Amer­i­ca in the last week, I noticed a draft pol­i­cy that could trans­form Kenya’s future. While polit­i­cal debates raged on, the sur­pris­ing release of Ross Ulbricht by Pres­i­dent Trump reignit­ed glob­al dis­cus­sions on jus­tice, inno­va­tion, and the pro­found influ­ence of pol­i­cy deci­sions. These simul­ta­ne­ous events under­scored an unde­ni­able truth that well-craft­ed poli­cies pos­sess the pow­er to rede­fine des­tinies. Here in Kenya, amidst the chaos I am con­vinced that a remark­able shift is qui­et­ly emerg­ing – I noticed a draft pol­i­cy on vir­tu­al assets and Vir­tu­al Asset Ser­vice Providers (VASPs) that holds the promise of reshap­ing Kenya’s finan­cial future. Progress is qui­et­ly tak­ing root, sig­nal­ing this policy’s poten­tial to reshape Kenya’s finan­cial landscape.

As glob­al finan­cial sys­tems evolve, Kenya stands on the brink of a trans­for­ma­tive oppor­tu­ni­ty. Vir­tu­al assets have rev­o­lu­tion­ized tra­di­tion­al finance, open­ing path­ways for inno­va­tion, finan­cial inclu­sion, and sus­tain­able devel­op­ment. Yet, with­out a com­pre­hen­sive pol­i­cy frame­work for vir­tu­al assets and Vir­tu­al Asset Ser­vice Providers (VASPs), Kenya risks falling behind. This gap delays fund­ing for well-known ini­tia­tives like Green Africa Vil­lages and expos­es Kenya to finan­cial vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties. Vir­tu­al assets, includ­ing eth­i­cal finan­cial instru­ments and scrip­tur­al mon­ey, oper­ate in decen­tral­ized ecosys­tems enabling rapid, bor­der­less trans­ac­tions. Glob­al­ly, they have empow­ered unbanked pop­u­la­tions and dri­ven inno­va­tion in sec­tors like agri­cul­ture, edu­ca­tion, and health­care, demon­strat­ing their trans­for­ma­tive potential.

Kenya, known for its trail­blaz­ing role in mobile mon­ey through M‑Pesa, has already proven its capac­i­ty for dig­i­tal finan­cial inno­va­tion. How­ev­er, the poten­tial of vir­tu­al assets goes beyond dig­i­tal pay­ments — they can attract glob­al invest­ments, sup­port entre­pre­neur­ial ven­tures, and fund large-scale envi­ron­men­tal and social projects. For exam­ple, Green Africa Vil­lages has already secured inter­na­tion­al fund­ing through a non-tra­di­tion­al vir­tu­al asset-based mod­el, under­scor­ing the untapped oppor­tu­ni­ties in this space. Yet, with­out a sup­port­ive pol­i­cy, scal­ing such ini­tia­tives becomes a daunt­ing task. The absence of a robust reg­u­la­to­ry frame­work intro­duces three sig­nif­i­cant risks. First­ly, vir­tu­al assets can be exploit­ed for mon­ey laun­der­ing, ter­ror­ism financ­ing, and fraud if left unreg­u­lat­ed. Sec­ond­ly, with­out safe­guards, investors and users are exposed to risks from scams, data breach­es, and unsta­ble plat­forms. Third­ly, a lack of clear poli­cies dis­cour­ages rep­utable glob­al investors and inno­va­tors from engag­ing with Kenya’s finan­cial ecosystem.

Kenya must there­fore act while oth­ers cap­i­tal­ize on the dig­i­tal rev­o­lu­tion. Delayed pol­i­cy devel­op­ment is not just reg­u­la­to­ry over­sight — it’s a missed oppor­tu­ni­ty to lead in Africa’s vir­tu­al asset ecosys­tem. Coun­tries in the Euro­pean Union as well as Sin­ga­pore, and South Africa have demon­strat­ed how strate­gic poli­cies can bal­ance inno­va­tion with secu­ri­ty. For exam­ple, the EU’s Mar­kets in Cryp­to-Assets (MiCA) reg­u­la­tion ensures con­sumer pro­tec­tion while fos­ter­ing inno­va­tion, Singapore’s licens­ing regime enforces strict anti-mon­ey laun­der­ing mea­sures, and South Africa proac­tive­ly reg­u­lates cryp­to asset providers to main­tain mar­ket sta­bil­i­ty. Kenya can draw from these exam­ples to craft a com­pre­hen­sive and con­text-spe­cif­ic pol­i­cy. To ensure Kenya’s pol­i­cy is effec­tive and future-proof, we should address the fol­low­ing: First­ly, include non-tra­di­tion­al assets like eth­i­cal instru­ments and scrip­tur­al mon­ey, which are dri­ving glob­al fund­ing inno­va­tion. Sec­ond­ly, include non-tra­di­tion­al assets like scrip­tur­al mon­ey and eth­i­cal finan­cial instru­ments to pro­mote inclu­siv­i­ty and inno­va­tion. Third­ly, cre­ate a con­trolled envi­ron­ment for pilot­ing vir­tu­al asset projects, encour­ag­ing exper­i­men­ta­tion while mit­i­gat­ing risks. Fourth­ly, align with inter­na­tion­al stan­dards like those of the Finan­cial Action Task Force (FATF) and pro­mote glob­al coop­er­a­tion. Fifth, invest in edu­ca­tion­al cam­paigns to build trust and under­stand­ing among con­sumers. Last­ly, inte­grate poli­cies that encour­age vir­tu­al assets to fund social and envi­ron­men­tal ini­tia­tives, align­ing with the UN’s Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment Goals (SDGs).

Adopt­ing a com­pre­hen­sive vir­tu­al asset pol­i­cy will posi­tion Kenya as a leader in dig­i­tal finance, attract­ing invest­ments, fos­ter­ing part­ner­ships, and safe­guard­ing con­sumers. This frame­work will chan­nel resources toward crit­i­cal sus­tain­able devel­op­ment projects while sig­nal­ing to the inter­na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty that Kenya is ready to embrace finan­cial inno­va­tion respon­si­bly. Pri­or­i­tiz­ing this pol­i­cy can unlock oppor­tu­ni­ties, secure Kenya’s finan­cial ecosys­tem, and above all give hope to Kenyans. This is the moment to cham­pi­on a trans­for­ma­tion that changes Kenya for­ev­er. Think green, act green!