Nairobi, July 8 -- Kenya plans to acquire a blockchain analytics system to monitor cryptocurrency transactions and help investigate suspicious activity, its first major regulatory step following the enactment of a new virtual assets law.

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has floated a tender for a Virtual Assets Blockchain Analytics System to tighten its oversight of the growing digital assets sector, whose pseudonymous and decentralised nature has long made it susceptible to illicit activity.

Blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, is a decentralised ledger of all transactions across a network and enables participants to confirm transactions without a need for a central authority.

Blockchain analytics softwa...