Kenya, 24 December 2025 – In 2025, the world’s economic landscape was transformed not just by the usual market cycles but by sweeping structural shifts, driven by breakthroughs in technology, evolving financial systems, volatile markets, and mounting climate pressures.
From the rapid adoption of mobile money and artificial intelligence to new frontiers in digital assets, these trends are recasting the rules of economic growth and laying foundations that will reverberate into 2026 and beyond.
One of the most striking structural changes of 2025 was the accelerating integration of technology into daily economic life.
Mobile money, once a niche innovation, continues to expand the reach of financial services globally.
According to the World Bank and the World Bank‑led Wudadao Forum, mobile money platforms contributed to over 1.3 billion registered accounts worldwide, with Sub‑Saharan Africa, including Kenya, at the forefront of this shift, dramatically enhancing financial inclusion for underserved communities.
Artificial intelligence made equally profound strides.
New research suggests that AI adoption could boost global GDP by up to 15 percentage points by 2035, rivaling the economic uplift of the Industrial Revolution.
In Kenya, for example, a July 2025 report ranked the country number one in global ChatGPT usage, a sign of deep integration of generative AI into business, education, and personal use, a remarkable leap for an economy still classified as emerging.
At the infrastructure level, cloud computing, the backbone of modern digital services, continued to dominate corporate investment strategies.
Major global players, such as Amazon, have launched massive $12 billion bond issuances to expand AI and cloud infrastructure, signaling a shift toward debt-financed tech builds that blur the lines between traditional capital markets and future technology platforms.
These innovations coincided with a broader rise in fintech and digital finance. Stablecoins, digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies, grew in prominence following landmark legislation such as the U.S. GENIUS Act, which enabled regulated issuance of stablecoins by banks and financial institutions.
Meanwhile, real‑world asset tokenization and blockchain‑based financial platforms expanded rapidly, positioning digital assets as serious contenders alongside traditional stock and bond markets.
Global capital markets in 2025 reflected the tectonic changes in technology and geopolitics. According to the Financial Times, big winners on the world’s stock exchanges were companies tied to AI development, defence spending and precious metals, while traditional consumer sectors lagged amid tariff disruptions and shifting demand patterns.
Cryptocurrencies, once fringe speculative assets, were reshaped by institutional participation. Bitcoin remained a leading digital asset, but stablecoins and decentralized finance (DeFi) gained traction as everyday users sought cheaper, faster cross-border transactions, particularly in regions where traditional banking was costly or unreliable. Sub-Saharan Africa emerged as a global leader in stablecoin adoption, with markets like Nigeria seeing millions of users bypass cash constraints with digital dollars, while regulators raced to catch up with usage patterns.
Bitcoin’s price action in 2025 underscored both the maturation and persistent volatility of the crypto market.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency surged to record highs during the year, buoyed by increased institutional allocations, expanding exchange-traded fund participation, and growing acceptance of digital assets within mainstream portfolios.
However, these gains were punctuated by sharp corrections, as tighter global liquidity conditions, profit-taking, and regulatory uncertainty triggered periodic sell-offs.
The resulting boom-and-bust cycles reinforced Bitcoin’s dual identity in 2025: a strategic asset for long-term investors and a highly volatile instrument sensitive to macroeconomic signals, geopolitical risk, and policy direction.
Policy developments also influenced digital markets. In the U.S., discussions around a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and digital asset summits highlighted how governments were contemplating direct engagement in crypto markets, shifting rhetoric from prohibition to strategic inclusion.
Across Sub-Saharan Africa in 2025, virtual asset regulation moved rapidly from the fringes toward the mainstream as governments sought to balance innovation with financial stability and consumer protection.
In Kenya, the Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Act was passed and came into force in late 2025, establishing a licensing and oversight framework for crypto exchanges, wallet providers, and stablecoin issuers. Under the law, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) jointly regulate the sector, demanding strong anti-money-laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) compliance.
