Kenya is one of many African countries that has withdrawn from the use of digital currencies. The Central Bank of Kenya’s (CBK) governor, Patrick Njoroge, declared that their decision has not been altered. He made the remarks just after the CBK announced its monetary policy, but also indicated that the central bank will be talking about cryptocurrencies more in the near future.
The governor’s reiteration of the CBK’s stance on cryptocurrencies comes more than six months after reports surfaced that Kenyan banks were providing notifications urging consumers to refrain from trading cryptocurrencies, according to the Kenyan Wallstreet story.
Njoroge’s reaffirmation of the central bank’s stance on cryptos comes amid news that Kenya has surpassed South Africa as the African country with the greatest percentage of its population holding cryptocurrency. Kenya is also predicted to maintain its position in the global peer-to-peer cryptocurrency sector in 2022.
He urges the citizens to be patient;
For a country that put a halt on Crypto-currencies, reports indicate that Kenya had Africa’s second largest Peer-to-peer bitcoin traded volumes in 2021. Despite all these signs of readiness from Kenyans, the governor, in a statement said that the country is taking its time understanding the digital currencies before moving a step further to make them legal. He said,
“I think we will be speaking more completely about this space, not just cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency is one lever, one little area……so we will be speaking more completely about this in the near future but I guess in the medium term. So please be patient on that …. suffice to say that our position has not changed on any of those products.”