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Africa (Emerging)

June 4, 2026

6 min read

Last Updated: June 2026

Nigeria

  • ISA 2025: Investments and Securities Act 2025 classifies virtual assets as securities under the SEC; operating a mining business (mining pools, mining-as-a-service) without an SEC licence is illegal
  • Mining-as-a-service must be licensed: minimum N500M ($335,000) paid-up capital
  • Total startup costs typically exceed N1 billion ($670,000) — effectively bars small operators
  • Only 2 companies held provisional licenses as of late 2024
  • Mining income taxed at up to 30%
  • 2021 banking ban reversed December 2023; only licensed VASPs can access banking
  • Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA) 2025 (signed June 2025, taking full effect in 2026) imposes reporting/tax obligations on VASPs; non-compliance penalty starts at ₦10M in the first month plus ₦1M for each subsequent month (industry-reported amounts)

Sources:

Kenya

  • VASP Act signed into law October 2025 (effective November 4, 2025)
  • CBK oversees payment-related firms (incl. stablecoin dealers and conversion rails); CMA supervises exchanges, brokers, and tokenization platforms
  • Draft VASP Regulations 2026 opened for public consultation March 2026; submissions closed April 10, 2026 and the National Treasury announced conclusion of public participation on/around April 11, 2026 (final regulations to be gazetted thereafter)
  • Draft requires VASPs to be locally incorporated with qualified directors/management; minimum capital indicatively KSh 50M–200M depending on activity (draft estimate); reserve/safeguarding obligations for client assets; foreign companies must obtain a compliance certificate before licensing
  • 10% excise duty on fees charged by virtual asset providers (replaced 3% digital asset tax)
  • ~$19 billion in crypto inflows (July 2024–June 2025), 6M+ Kenyans using crypto
  • No specific mining framework

Sources:

Ethiopia

  • Mining permitted under "data center and cloud services" classification
  • Foreign investors need minimum $200,000 working capital ($150,000 with local partners)
  • Electricity rate: ~$0.032/kWh — among world's lowest. Cost to mine 1 BTC: ~$1,990
  • 25+ foreign mining firms (mostly
    Chinese    ) operating (with ~20 more reportedly on a waiting list), powered by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)
  • August 2025: Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) froze all new power permits for crypto/data miners citing grid capacity ("access appears to be at capacity"); plans to phase out/reduce mining
  • Tariff increases (industry-reported schedule): 30% (Dec 2025), 24% (July 2026), 28% (July 2027) — at proposed rates roughly half of current operations were projected to become unprofitable by mid-2026
  • Industry-reported hashrate (Hashrate Index, Jan 2026): Ethiopia is the 8th-largest Bitcoin mining country, ~2.6% of global hashrate (~27.5 EH/s) — methodology: weighted blend of mining-pool data, ASIC trading flows, and firmware-adoption trends (estimate, label as industry-reported)
  • Cryptocurrency for transactions remains illegal; Birr is only legal tender

Sources:

Recent Developments

  • 2026-04-11 — Kenya: National Treasury announced the conclusion of public participation on the Draft VASP Regulations 2026 (consultation submissions closed April 10, 2026); the next phase is reviewing feedback before gazetting final regulations, which will make the VASP Act 2025 licensing requirements fully enforceable. (National Treasury notice — primary text in RIS PDF)
  • 2026-Q1/Q2 — Ethiopia (state-backed mining): At the Finance Forward Ethiopia 2026 conference, PM Abiy Ahmed announced that state-owned Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH) is seeking partners (capital, mining technology, operational expertise) for a national, government-sponsored Bitcoin mining initiative, intending to generate direct state revenue rather than relying solely on private operators; EIH is reported to be taking 20–30% stakes in mining mega-facilities. (MEXC News — Ethiopia's PM Announces Bitcoin and Crypto Mining Plans)
  • 2026-01 — Ethiopia (industry hashrate data): Hashrate Index ranked Ethiopia the 8th-largest Bitcoin mining jurisdiction globally at ~2.6% of network hashrate (~27.5 EH/s), up from #10 a year earlier, despite the August 2025 permit freeze (industry-reported estimate). (Hashrate Index — Top 10 Bitcoin Mining Countries of 2026)

Verification Notes

This refresh verified high-stakes claims against the highest-authority sources locatable as of 2026-06-04. Crypto-mining regulation in these three jurisdictions is governed by general VASP/securities frameworks rather than mining-specific statutes; no enacted mining-specific law changed in any of the three since the prior modified date (2026-03-18).

  • (a) Claims that could not be fully verified against primary sources:

    • Kenya draft stablecoin reserve specifics (a "30% of customer funds in segregated Kenyan commercial-bank accounts" figure appeared in secondary/aggregator summaries citing The Block; the primary Treasury draft text and The Block article could not be fetched directly — The Block returned HTTP 403). This specific percentage is therefore NOT VERIFIED and is omitted from the body; only the verified local-incorporation, indicative capital (KSh 50M–200M), and client-asset safeguarding obligations are stated, with capital figures flagged as draft estimates.
    • Ethiopia "mining was consuming ~33% of national power" (present in the prior version) could NOT be confirmed against a primary energy-ministry/EEP source in this pass; the August 2025 EEP freeze was attributed in reporting to grid capacity ("access appears to be at capacity") and a ~7% power-export share with miners as a large contributor (Mariblock, Aug 2025), not to a stated 33% domestic-consumption figure. The "~33%" claim has been removed from the body pending a primary source (Correction Protocol, item (d) below).
    • Nigeria penalty amounts (₦10M first month + ₦1M per subsequent month under NTAA 2025) are sourced from secondary legal/explainer commentary; the precise figures are flagged industry/commentary-reported and the NTAA primary text was not fetched.

  • (b) Secondary-sourced claims (primary not located):

    • Nigeria licensing thresholds (N500M paid-up capital; ~N1bn total startup) and the "2 provisional licenses as of late 2024" remain from law-firm/explainer commentary (TransNet, Cryptoverse Lawyers); SEC Nigeria's primary rules text was not fetched this pass.
    • Ethiopia electricity rate (~$0.032/kWh) and ~$1,990 cost-to-mine-1-BTC remain from Afriwise commentary; not re-confirmed against an EEP tariff schedule primary.

  • (c) Methodology disputes / industry-reported data:

    • Ethiopia hashrate share is an estimate: Hashrate Index reports ~2.6% (~27.5 EH/s, #8) as of Jan 2026 via a weighted blend of mining-pool data, ASIC trading flows, and firmware-adoption trends. Other sources (bne IntelliNews / CryptoSlate, late 2025) cite ~2.5% for 2024, and a BitKE headline cites ~2.7% / #8. These differ by methodology and reference date; all are flagged industry-reported. No CCAF/CBECI country-level figure was independently confirmed for Ethiopia in this pass.

  • (d) Corrections made this pass:

    • Removed the unsourced "~33% of national power" consumption figure from the Ethiopia section (could not verify against a primary source).
    • Added the verified Kenya consultation-conclusion development (Apr 10–11, 2026), CBK/CMA jurisdictional split detail, and draft local-incorporation/capital requirements.
    • Added the verified Ethiopia state-backed mining initiative (EIH / Finance Forward Ethiopia 2026) and the Jan 2026 Hashrate Index ranking (#8, ~2.6%).
    • Added Nigeria NTAA 2025 tax/reporting development (flagged commentary-reported penalty amounts).
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