Uganda kicks off $5.5B CBDC trial as Kenya nears crypto bill approval

The East African country of Uganda has launched a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot backed by treasury bonds. At the same time, its neighbor, Kenya, is on the verge of signing its first cryptocurrency regulation bill into law, pending presidential approval.

The Bank of Uganda’s CBDC, a digitized version of the Ugandan shilling on a permissioned blockchain, has been implemented by a partnership between blockchain infrastructure company Global Settlement Network (GSN) and Ugandan developer Diacente Group. It forms part of a $5.5 billion national tokenization initiative announced on Wednesday.

Under the pilot program, GSN and Diacente will tokenize real-world assets, including treasury bonds, agricultural investments, and renewable energy projects, to modernize Uganda’s financial system and attract international investment. According to GSN, funding will come from tokenized loans and investors across Korea and the Middle East.

Uganda CDBC to serve the unbanked, covering several industries 

More than 80% of Uganda’s workforce operates in the informal economy, where access to formal banking is limited. The new CBDC system seeks to change that by enabling low-cost, mobile-based transactions via smartphones and USSD codes for over 40 million Ugandans.

GSN representatives said the platform uses full Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) protocols in tandem with both local and international standards.

“We are building infrastructure that goes beyond theory—a programmable economy grounded in real assets, regulatory collaboration, and mass accessibility. This is how we close the gap between digital finance and real-world impact,” remarked Ryan Kirkley, co-founder and CEO of GSN.

The pilot will begin in the Karamoja Green Industrial and Special Economic Zone (GISEZ), a government-supported development centre within Uganda’s Vision 2040 plan. The country’s government is seeking to industrialize and expand the economy to $500 billion through regional trading.

Uganda’s pilot follows similar efforts by Nigeria, which became the first country on the continent to launch a CBDC in 2021 with its eNaira, while Ghana and South Africa have both conducted pilot programs. Egypt plans to roll out a national digital currency by 2030, and Rwanda and Kenya remain in the research phase.

Kirkley asserted that Uganda’s CBDC deliberately avoids the pitfalls faced by Nigeria’s eNaira, which he said struggled with low user adoption. 

“Previous systems failed because they were not linked to real use. We are starting with industries, with jobs and production, so people have a reason to use it,” the GSN CEO surmised.

The Ugandan government hopes the pilot will lay the groundwork for full-scale tokenization in several economic activities, including agriculture, mining, renewable energy, and global trade.

Kenya one step closer to passing crypto regulation

Crossing the border from Uganda, Kenya is on the brink of passing its first comprehensive cryptocurrency regulation. On Tuesday, the 2024-tabled Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Bill, 2025, cleared its third reading in Parliament, sending it to President William Ruto for assent.

Kenyan Members of Parliament reached a consensus to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets under the joint oversight of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA). It also grants the Treasury Cabinet Secretary powers to issue detailed rules on stablecoins, tokenization, capital adequacy, and anti-money laundering (AML) standards.

If signed into law, the framework will create clear licensing and solvency requirements for both domestic and foreign digital asset operators. Companies expected to be part of the approval list include Luno, Busha, KotaniPay, Fonbnk, Swypt, and Binance. President Ruto is expected to receive the final bill within weeks.

Chebet Kipingor, the country lead for crypto platform Busha Kenya, said the legislation is a turning point for the country’s crypto market confidence.

The bill’s approval would make Kenya one of the few African nations with formal legal recognition of digital assets and service providers. Sub-Saharan Africa, which includes Uganda and Kenya, is the world’s third-fastest growing region for crypto adoption, according to a September report by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. 

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