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{
    "id": 1583384,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1583384/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 342,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nairobi City County, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Esther Passaris",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "such investor in the CBEX platform. Tomorrow is the day that many young Kenyans, who invested in CBEX and were able to pay the US$100, were told they had to pay to recover their money, and to verify their accounts, are waiting to make withdrawals of their principal amounts. When I got into the CBEX platform, introduced by a young Kenyan, I found Kenyans who were speaking very highly of it. They had made big money. I have a friend called Lydia, who I met on the platform. Lydia managed to educate her children and even bought her mother a house, all through crypto. Others are actively trading in crypto, and are the same people who buy or sell crypto using the Binance platform. Unfortunately, because there is no regulation and there is no law, sometimes when their bank accounts are hit with large sums of money, they are frozen. Then they have to go around trying to find paperwork and appease the banks. But then again, there is a vacuum that allows people to operate in the wrong way instead of the right way. As we strengthen the law, let us find a mechanism to protect the consumer. Let there be a compensation fund, contributed to by all Virtual Asset Service Providers, so that when a platform collapses or commits fraud, Kenyans might have a form of recourse. Let us prohibit the advertisement of guaranteed returns or unverifiable artificial intelligence claims that mislead the public. If you go to Facebook right now, you will see numerous AI-generated adverts showing former President Uhuru Kenyatta, saying, ‘I found a way for Kenyans to make money. Invest Ksh32,000, and you will get a return of Ksh500,000.’ Hon. Temporary Speaker, I have seen them shamelessly using the sitting President. They use a media personality in an interview and thereafter show the current President sitting on a chair appealing to Kenyans to invest in this platform. I warn Kenyans that most of these things are fraudulent. These are people trying to scam you. Be very careful to avoid being scammed by AI generated advertisements. It is very dangerous. The law and the Bill also have to prohibit advertising of guaranteed returns or unverified AI claims that mislead the public. We also need to tackle pyramid, style and referral schemes that disguise as investment opportunities. China Beijing Equity Exchange (CBEX) was one such scheme where people were recruiting others. It was not for trading, transparency, and innovation, but exploitation. The Bill needs to incorporate a financial reporting centre that can publish a blacklist of unlicensed platforms and protect whistleblowers who come forward with information. The Bill should ensure they are not silenced. Many of these schemes operate across borders. The Bill should also include provisions for international cooperation with bodies like the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) and Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to trace and recover stolen funds. If we cannot do that, people will lose money when they join these online platforms even though we have laws in Kenya. Lastly, we must also require annual audits and quarterly disclosures. We should enforce the know-your-customer rules to prevent anonymous abuse. The public deserves absolute transparency. Finally, Hon. Temporary Speaker, let us commit to public education on virtual assets. Innovation is welcome but only when Kenyans are equipped with knowledge and protected by law. The Bill should not only enable the future of finance but must also defend people The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for informationpurposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}