Despite the story and the scam being exposed months ago, the effects of CBEX crypto ponzi scheme is still reverberating.
As of today, $847 million was swindled and lost with thousands of investors across Kenya, Nigeria and beyond.
SCAM ALERT | Kenyans Count Losses on CBEX Crypto and Forex Trading Platform
“Today morning, I woke up with like $6,000 (KES 777,680) in my crypto wallet. But at around 7 PM, it had been cleared to zero.”https://t.co/h1ZWFjfKZa @KeTreasury @CMAKenya @CBKKenya @DCI_Kenya pic.twitter.com/0h7jq8cRXg
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) April 16, 2025
Following this development, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria (SEC Nigeria) put out an alert calling the CBEX operation illegal opening up legal investigations against the entity.
Interpol has reportedly joined in the investigations as well.
At the same time, the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya (CMA Kenya) swiftly issued an investor alert warning Kenyans to invest only through firms that are licensed and regulated.
CBEX is not the first and certainly won’t be the last crypto scam to hit Kenya, Nigeria and other markets.
While regulation can certainly help in ensuring such schemes do not operate freely, it is equally important that proper regulation that does not have ‘legal loopholes’ that allow some to operate without regulatory purview.
Public uproar over regulatory capture has seen the government retract a watered down version of the proposed regulatory draft bill that apparently protects incumbents from protective AML/CFT requirements, in addition to having conflict of interests that saw private entities embed themselves onto the upcoming Kenya Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).
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