Table of Contents
TL;DR,
- The NSE, whose profit after tax soared 544%, is now in talks to list five international virtual asset companies on its exchange.
- Kenya’s new VASP Act allows investors to buy equity in crypto firms via Electronically Traded Products (ETPs), offering a regulated and less volatile alternative to direct token ownership.
- The NSE is building the Kenya Digital Exchange (KDX) on the Hedera blockchain to create the infrastructure for a future of tokenized assets and global stocks.
Global virtual asset companies are now lining up to offer their services, stocks, and equity within Africa’s pro-regulatory market. Following the presidential assent of the Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Act on October 15, 2025, Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA Kenya) has revealed something remarkable. Currently five virtual asset companies (largely from the US and UK) are now in discussion to list their shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
The market once favoring Kenyan traders has now opened its doors to traditional investors wanting a piece of the largest company stocks, a route that feels familiar to those used to investing in crypto ETPs.
Context and the VASP Act
Kenya’s VASP Act, signed into law on October 15, 2025, now places all of Africa’s big three nations under regulatory supervision. The statute places Kenya’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) as its primary license distributor and supervises over exchanges, brokers, investment advisors, asset managers, and virtual‑asset offering providers, while embedding strong AML/CFT safeguards.
FOLLOW UP: Kenya’s 2025 Crypto Bill Officially Becomes Law: A Trader’s Guide to VASP Licensing and Compliance.
Think of it as a compliant channel to international crypto exposure via equity listings. This doesn’t mean cryptocurrencies will be embedded within its economy. As it stands, neither SARS (South Africa), CBN (Nigeria), nor CBK (Kenya) recognize cryptocurrencies as legal tenders. However, all three regions have pushed for banks to offer SBY interfacing with licensed providers.
A listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange would bring significant changes.
The NSE has been searching for its next meaningful initial public offering for nearly a decade. With traditional corporate listings dwindling, the exchange has diversified their portfolios, accommodating for the recent pro-crypto shift. After the VASP Act, virtual asset companies are looking to offer Kenyan investors exposure to the crypto ecosystems; however, these are not tokens.
According to the CMA, these listings would come as equity, potentially packaged as what it described as “electronically traded products (ETPs).” This means Kenyan investors could buy company shares tied to the virtual‑asset value chain, reducing the need to custody tokens directly. Think of investing in crypto ETPs; it’s designed to temper direct token‑price volatility while still giving access to crypto‑adjacent earnings.
For retail and institutional allocators alike, the “indirect exposure” model echoes Europe and the U.S., where listed companies and ETPs have become primary vehicles for investing in crypto ETPs without handling tokens themselves.
The NSE 20 Share Index went up 33.94%, and bond turnover reached $11.6 billion ( Ksh 1.5 trillion), which is a huge 140% increase.[Photo: NSE]
In April 2025, the NSE said that the Kenya Digital Exchange (KDX). The company had never worked on a digital asset project this big before. KDX is built on the Hedera blockchain. It will be released in stages: design and compliance in 2025, pilot trading and ETPs in the third quarter of 2025, and a full commercial launch by the second quarter of 2026. The framework is supposed to have tokenized stocks, bonds, funds, and goods.
The platform also joined the Hedera Council in October 2025 and operates a node, one of Kenya’s first enterprise-grade adoptions. According to a previous article, its foundation supports market-infrastructure goals such as DLT‑based settlement and improved custody models.
Combining additional listings from five virtual asset companies, it creates a steady roadmap for Kenya to adopt blockchain beyond simple systems and trading..
Electronically Traded Products: A Safer Gateway to Digital Assets
For some context, electronically traded products often offer a compelling alternative similar to ETFs. Instead of purchasing crypto directly and managing wallet security, investors buy shares in established companies operating within the virtual-asset space.
The CMA’s CEO acknowledges the Bitcoin market “has quite a lot of cyclical trends and is very unstable.” Access to equity instead of tokens in the virtual asset companies reduces the risks. You’re still exposed to the sector, with its model highly cyclical and dependent on regulatory developments, but daily volatility doesn’t scare you as much as the average traders.
Investing in crypto ETPs through NSE means benefiting from established investor protections: disclosure requirements, corporate governance standards, and regulatory oversight that simply doesn’t exist in decentralized token trading. The NSE Chief Executive emphasizes that success “hinges entirely on the effective implementation of the new regulatory framework,” with priorities including investor protection, liquidity management, and comprehensive investor education.
