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Crypto miner Marathon Digital is in discussions with the Kenyan government regarding the country’s cryptocurrency policy and energy requirements for crypto mining. Kenya is gradually regulating its crypto market. President William Ruto announced at the American Chamber of Commerce Kenya Business Summit that he requested advice from Marathon to the National Treasury and Ministry of Energy. The summit took place in late April, but information about it was not immediately disclosed.
Notable Move by the Marathon Team
Participants included U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Marathon was one of the platinum-level sponsors of the event. Ruto, in his opening remarks, said the following about the discussions with Marathon:
“This is a strong testament to the extensive transformative opportunities that exist in trade and investment between the U.S. and East Africa.”
Marathon is based in the United States but also has joint mining ventures in Abu Dhabi and Paraguay. As one of the world’s top five crypto miners, Marathon, if it operates in the East African country, will not be the first crypto miner to operate there.
Kenya and the Cryptocurrency Space
Kenya government had a long-standing negative stance towards cryptocurrency. However, two months after Ruto took office, in November 2022, efforts to regulate the crypto space began to be addressed. The International Monetary Fund made critical observations about Africa’s lax crypto regulations in November 2022. Kenya ranked 11th worldwide in crypto adoption that year.
A bill to tax and regulate cryptocurrencies is still under review and open for comments. The government has sought advice on a bill for a crypto asset service provider from the Kenya Blockchain Association. The United States had previously defended the interests of the American crypto industry in Kenya and unsuccessfully called on Kenya to suspend local Worldcoin activities. The Kenyan government, citing security concerns, ordered the shutdown of local Worldcoin operations in August, which Worldcoin did not immediately comply with.
