Financial sector regulators to form crypto regulation taskforce
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 16 – The Joint Financial Sector Regulators Forum (JFSRF) has agreed to form a technical working group that will make recommendations to the National Treasury on how to regulate the crypto industry.
During the forum’s 13th meeting held in Kisumu, the members including the Central Bank of Kenya, Capital Markets Authority, Insurance Regulatory Authority among others noted that there has been significant transformation in the domestic financial sector presenting a need to form the task force to ensure the stability of the sector.
“While these transformations have immense potential benefits, they also pose risks to the stability of the financial sector, including cyber fraud, data protection issues, consumer protection, and product pricing,” the regulators noted.
The recommendations from the task force will be subsequent to wide consultations and deliberations across the financial sector and other relevant stakeholders.
A recent survey in 154 countries by Chainalysis, a cryptocurrency market research firm based in New York, placed Kenya as the leading country globally with the highest proportion of residents putting a large share of their overall wealth into cryptos.
This points to the country’s exposure to the ongoing meltdown in the crypto market.
In February, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) noted that it will give more attention to crypto assets in a bid to regulate the sector.
CMA raised caution that crypto assets are not yet entirely safe for investors because they are highly volatile and susceptible to hacking. The regulator suggested controls to protect investors.
“Increased trading of crypto assets by emerging market users can potentially lead to destabilising capital flows. Emerging market and developing economies faced with these risks are encouraged to prioritise strengthening macro policies and consider the benefits of issuing central bank digital currencies,” CMA said.
The CBK in February invited public views on the potential introduction of a digital currency, which is a form of cryptocurrency, to offer some benefits such as reducing cross-border payment costs.
CBDC is a national fiat currency in digital form. This means that if it is introduced, besides the printed cash, CBK will also issue the electronic equivalent.
Currently, the global market capitalization for crypto assets stands at $1.7 trillion according to Statista.
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