Over the last three years, the Kenyan government and central bank have been discussing how to regulate bitcoin and other digital currencies. In March 2018, the Central Bank of Kenya warned the general public about cryptocurrency investments.
After those warnings, the region’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) cautioned the public again after investigating a project called kenicoin. Even though financial regulators are dressing down digital currencies, Kenyan merchants and traders in the region are still flocking toward the crypto asset economy.
However, even though Kenya’s financial watchdogs are cautioning against investing and trading cryptocurrencies, they have been powerless to stop the steady trend of cryptocurrency acceptance and rising trade volumes within the country.
A restaurant in Nyeri Town called Betty’s Place is now accepting bitcoin payments, a move that has seen curiosity rise as residents seek to understand and use this form of currency.
The restaurant owner, Ms. Beatrice Wambugu said she decided to introduce bitcoin payments as an effort towards accepting the current technology trends. “Since I am the kind of person that likes to embrace new trends and I would like other people to adopt this technology as well, I decided to accept bitcoin payments in my restaurant. It is a form of payment just like M-Pesa and cash,” she told Kenyan Wall Street during a phone interview.
So far, Betty’s Place has received three bitcoin payments averaging at Sh500 as customers experiment to find out how BTC works.
Ms. Wambugu also earns BTC through a platform that pays its users in bitcoin every time they refer a friend. The platform operates on a learn as you earn basis.
According to Ms. Wambugu, most customers are unaware of bitcoin, a fact that is most likely true across all the counties in the country. However, this situation could change as mainstream media and cryptocurrency communities continue to increase awareness.
Google Trends indicates that the most bitcoin searches in the past twelve months have taken place in Nairobi and Mombasa.
A Citi Bank report released early this year stated Kenyans have invested 2.3 percent of GDP in bitcoin. As of 2016, the country’s GDP was Sh7.1 trillion which means approximately Sh163.3 billion has been invested in the currency.
Merchant acceptance is still growing in Kenya as well according to a report from the BBC news outlet published on Feb. 22. The Blockchain Association of Kenya (BAK) explained in an interview that digital currency awareness has increased, despite regulators in the region warning about trading them.