Kenya’s Central Bank is hiring for crypto compliance roles as landmark regulation nears

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) is hiring for senior and managerial roles to oversee licencing and compliance for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), even as the regulations governing the sector are still being finalised.  

On Monday, the regulator posted four positions within its Digital Payment Services Division on its careers portal, all closing May 18. The roles span licencing, product approval, and compliance oversight of virtual asset service providers. 

It is the first time the regulator has advertised roles specifically dedicated to VASPs, a sign that it is assembling capacity ahead of what could be an imminent regulatory rollout.

A manager-level hire would lead the licencing function, reviewing applications, recommending approvals or rejections, and developing standard operating procedures for the new VASP regime. 

Two deputy manager positions would respectively handle licencing and product approval, and oversight and compliance, the latter focused on risk-based supervision of licenced VASPs, including anti-money laundering (AML) checks, cybersecurity assessments, and enforcement of licencing conditions. 

A senior business analyst role rounds out the team, focused on application review and regulatory guidance for incoming VASP applicants.

The hiring comes seven months after Kenya’s parliament passed the Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Act in October 2025, which for the first time created a legal framework for the country’s crypto sector. 

Under that law, the CBK will oversee virtual assets used for payments, carving out a market where crypto-linked remittances and mobile money integrations have grown steadily. Yet, the subordinate regulations needed to actually operationalise that law are still not in place.

The National Treasury drafted the VASP Regulations in March and opened them for public comment until April 10. They have yet to be gazetted. The regulations, as drafted, propose a 13-member inter-agency Coordination Committee on which the CBK sits alongside other state agencies—including the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), the Financial Reporting Centre (FRC), and the National Computer and Cybercrimes Coordination Committee (NC4)—a structure meant to manage oversight across the various use cases of virtual assets. 

With the comment period closed and the regulations still pending, the hiring suggests the CBK is building internal capacity ahead of implementation. 

All four roles require backgrounds spanning payments, banking operations, financial services, or law, with the more senior positions demanding familiarity with anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing frameworks and international VASP standards.

Kenya joins a growing list of African countries, including Rwanda and Ghana, moving to bring crypto under formal oversight, but the gap between legislating and regulating remains a challenge across the continent. For now, the CBK is hiring, with or without the rulebook fully written.