In a significant move to position Kenya as a global digital finance hub, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) is in advanced discussions with major international technology companies dealing in virtual assets such as Bitcoin to list its shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), a move that is part of a broader market deepening strategy, which would mark the first listing of a virtual asset company on an African stock market.
This development follows the recent approval of the Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Act of 2025, signed into law by President William Ruto on October 15, which established a comprehensive legal framework for cryptocurrency regulation. The regulatory certainty provided has paved way for these groundbreaking discussions.
Listing of ETPs on the NSE
According to CMA’s Chief Executive Officer, Wycliffe Shamiah, four to five companies primarily from the United States and the United Kingdom have expressed huge interest in offering shares to Kenyan investors. Instead of listing the volatile cryptocurrencies themselves, these firms plan to list new financial instruments known as Electronic Traded Products (ETPs) into NSE. Mr. Shamiah explains that these are new versions of equities where the listed product is a share in the company, which itself holds or manages the underlying virtual assets. “They are not giving you a first line hit on the virtual assets,” he clarified, meaning investors would be buying in the company, not the digital coins directly.
Mr. Shamiah further explained that the ETP’s model mirrors how gold exchange-traded-funds operate, by allowing investors to gain exposure to an asset class without having direct ownership. By investing in shares of big virtual asset companies which fall into categories such as exchanges (Binance Holdings ltd and Coinbase Global Inc), asset managers (Grayscale Investments Inc) and infrastructure providers, local investors can share in their profits and dividends while minimizing their direct exposure to the highly volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market.
In an interview, CMA’s CEO declined to mention the specific companies involved, explaining that discussions are still in preliminary stages. He emphasized that the interest is strong and active, with these firms seeing an opportunity to offer a regulated product to the Kenyan public.
“These are now the plastic products which we have seen listed in most of the other external markets mainly around where we have these virtual assets. He added while referring to the established presence of such ETPs in Europe and the US.”- Wycliffe Shamiah, Chief Executive Officer – Capital Markets Authority.
If successful, this initiative would be a major boost for the NSE, which has not seen a corporate initial public offering in over a decade.
On the other side, NSE’s Chief Executive Officer, Frank Mwiti welcomed the development terming it a “very promising” development driven by Kenya’s new formal regulatory framework.
“It presents a modernizing opportunity for the NSE, but its success hinges entirely on the effective implementation of the new regulatory framework (prioritize investor protection, managing liquidity dynamics and prioritizing investor education) to ensure investors understand the risks and opportunities, fostering sustainable and informed market participation” – Frank Mwiti, Chief Executive Officer – Nairobi Securities Exchange Plc.
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