Published on 08/11/2024
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) celebrated a milestone collecting KSh 10 billion in taxes from cryptocurrency traders for the financial year ending June 30, 2024.
Chairman Anthony Mwaura highlighted this achievement at the annual taxpayers’ day at State House, Nairobi. The event underscored KRA’s commitment to expanding tax bases in emerging sectors.
“Cryptocurrency is a growing part of Kenya’s economy,” Mwaura stated, emphasizing KRA’s dedication to fair and consistent taxation. This year’s success marks a step forward in integrating digital finance into Kenya’s economic framework.
He highlighted that the KRA collected the KSh 10 billion from 384 cryptocurrency traders, as reported by media.
Mwaura projected that with enhanced regulations, the authority could increase this figure to KSh 60 billion in the 2024/25 financial year.
“If we can agree with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and secure Bitcoin and other crypto trading this year, we could reach KSh 60 billion in revenue from the sector,” Mwaura said.
He emphasized government’s bottom-up economic agenda.
Talks are underway between the CBK and other stakeholders to establish a technical committee to oversee cryptocurrency taxation.
Mwaura noted that many crypto traders are willing to comply but have been challenging to reach under current systems.
In October 2024, KRA announced plans to bring cryptocurrency into the tax bracket, aiming to enhance revenue collection in a rapidly growing sector.
Kenya currently ranked sixth globally in cryptocurrency adoption, with the market projected to generate $41.7 million (KSh 5.2 billion) in revenue by 2024, according to Statista.
