Cryptocurrency Business in Tanzania

Cryptocurrency occupies an unusual legal position in Tanzania: discouraged by a 2019 Bank of Tanzania notice, yet taxed under the Finance Act 2024's 3% withholding levy and upheld by the High Court in the December 2024 Yellow Card case. This article examines whether the crypto business is genuinely growing (it is, placing Tanzania in the global top 20 for adoption), what its true legal status is, whether the country is forgoing tax revenue under the current approach, and sets out a nine-point roadmap for a coherent regulatory framework, drawing on how Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Ghana have legislated.