The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) is in discussions with giant tech companies dealing in virtual assets- including bitcoin, to sell shares to the Kenyan public through the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), as part of a market deepening process that would mark the first listing of pure-play virtual asset companies on an African stock market.
The regulator’s talks with the firms from the US and UK come after President William Ruto signed the Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Act (2025) into law on October 15.
The law establishes a comprehensive legal framework for cryptocurrency regulation, as the country moves to position itself as a digital finance hub in the continent.
A virtual or digital asset is any content or resource stored digitally which has value and can be owned, traded, or managed and includes financial assets like cryptocurrencies and digital tokens that are secured on technologies like blockchain.
CMA’s Chief Executive Wycliffe Shamiah says “about four to five virtual asset companies largely from the US and UK have expressed huge interest to sell shares to local investors through the Nairobi bourse.”
“There are new versions of equities people are discussing based on crypto-currencies. These are new products which we are calling electronic traded products (ETPs) where there is the underlying, a product which is created and it is this product that is listed,’ Mr Shamiah told Business Daily in an interview.
‘We have received a lot of interest and we are hoping to list a number. We have had discussions with people who are interested. It could be a platform, it could be a company which has issued their own coin but they want to list their shares. We have seen interest in that, so they (virtual asset companies) are not giving you a first line hit on the virtual assets.’
Mr Shamiah however said he could not disclose the identity of the companies because the discussions are still in their preliminary stages.
The proposed listings will allow investors to invest in companies that deal in virtual assets, replicating the same model used by gold exchange-traded funds-where investors trade in gold indirectly through owning stakes in gold dealing companies.
The big global virtual asset companies fall into categories such as exchanges, asset managers and infrastructure providers.
Key players include Binance Holdings Ltd, Coinbase Global Inc., BitGo Inc, Grayscale Investments LLC and firms like Galaxy Digital and Ripple.
Major companies providing virtual asset trading platforms (also known as cryptocurrency exchanges or VATPs) include Binance Holdings Ltd, Coinbase Global Inc (US) and Kraken (US).
‘For now those who have come to have a discussion are mainly foreign companies.They could be four or five who have shown interest. These companies are saying if you allow us, we will not bring this coin but we will bring our shares so that people are not buying in the coin but they are buying in us (the company),’ says Shamiah.
CMA says listing of these virtual asset companies on the NSE will help local investors to share in their profits without necessarily trading in those assets and thereby minimise their exposure.
‘We have seen quite a lot of interest around there and it is very active. So you have people not investing in bitcoin directly but, they are investing in a company which is very involved with virtual assets and that becomes a regulated product. We have seen interest from, Europe, we have seen interest from the US.
“They are normally linked so that you find they are either listed in Europe and also US or they could be in different jurisdictions but mainly what we have seen they have listed on exchanges in Europe and also in the US,’ says Mr Shamiah.
‘Bitcoin is something which we know people discuss but you see that market has quite a lot of cyclical trends, very unstable and it requires people who can take hit. So there are now companies who are buying into cryptos and then they issue their shares to people so you share the profits and dividends from crypto but you have not invested directly into crypto.
“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.”
If successful, the deal could be a major boost to the NSE which is still looking for its first initial public offering from a corporate entity in more than a decade.
CMA says the introduction of the ETPs on the stock market is a diversification of product offerings, which will also reduce reliance on a few big companies that currently dominate trading activities.
NSE Chief Executive Frank Mwiti welcomed the development terming it a “very promising” development driven by Kenya’s new, formal regulatory framework.
‘It presents a modernising opportunity for the NSE, but its success hinges entirely on the effective implementation of the new regulatory framework (prioritise investor protection, managing liquidity dynamics and prioritising investor education) to ensure investors understand the risks and opportunities, fostering sustainable and informed market participation.’