US-based digital payments company Sendwave has suspended its wallet services in Kenya, citing technical difficulties, as international payment platforms face increased scrutiny over anti-money laundering and financial compliance.
The suspension has affected Kenyan users of Sendwave’s digital wallet, with the company advising customers holding balances to withdraw their funds.
Sendwave has not announced a date for the restoration of the service.
The development comes as Kenya remains on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, commonly known as the grey list, while international financial technology companies face growing pressure to strengthen controls around cross-border transactions.
Sendwave told an affected Kenyan customer that it had temporarily stopped offering wallet services in the country.
“Due to technical difficulties, we’re currently unable to offer wallet services in Kenya,” the company shared.
Sendwave also apologised to customers for the disruption, saying:
“We know how important it is to have access to your money, and we’re sorry for the inconvenience this may cause.”
The company said it was “unsure” how long it would take to resolve the technical difficulties and advised customers to withdraw balances held in their virtual wallets.
In another response to a customer, Sendwave said it was working to resolve the issue and assured users that balances remained secure.
Kenya remains under the FATF’s increased monitoring framework.
The FATF’s June 2026 assessment lists Kenya among jurisdictions under increased monitoring and says the country needs to continue addressing strategic weaknesses in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework.
The FATF has called for Kenya to improve areas including risk-based supervision of financial institutions, suspicious transaction reporting, beneficial ownership information, financial intelligence, money-laundering investigations and prosecutions, and targeted financial sanctions.
The grey-list status does not, by itself, mean that international payment companies must stop serving Kenya.
In fact, the FATF explicitly says its standards do not envisage automatically cutting off entire classes of customers because a country is under increased monitoring.
Instead, it promotes a risk-based approach and warns against disrupting legitimate remittances.
However, increased scrutiny can raise the compliance burden for financial institutions and payment companies operating across borders.
Cross-border payment companies must monitor transactions, verify customers and investigate suspicious activity.
Those requirements become particularly important when platforms provide digital wallets that allow users to hold, transfer or convert digital dollars.
Sendwave’s wallet allows users to hold digital-dollar balances and send money to other wallet users.
The company’s official wallet information says recipients can receive USDC, a digital currency pegged to the US dollar, and cash out in supported countries.
The model means payment companies must maintain controls around customer identity, source of funds and transaction activity.
Sendwave’s own support information says transactions can be reviewed for regulatory reasons and that customers may be contacted when additional verification is required.
As regulators increase scrutiny of international money flows, payment firms can face higher costs associated with monitoring transactions and meeting anti-money-laundering obligations.
The suspension has also drawn attention because Sendwave was mentioned in a Kenyan court case involving an alleged Sh300 million money-laundering scheme.
According to reporting by Business Daily, Sendwave was among the platforms allegedly used to transfer funds from the United States in a case involving local bank accounts and cryptocurrency networks.
Detectives reportedly sought international transaction information from the US government as they investigated the source and movement of the money.
There is no indication in the cited reporting that Sendwave itself has been accused of laundering the money. Rather, the platform was reportedly identified as one of the channels allegedly used in the movement of funds.
Sendwave’s suspension comes amid a wider tightening of international payment services affecting Kenyan users.
UK-based payment company Wise has restricted services for some Kenyan customers, while Hurupay has frozen its Kenya operations. PayPal also suspended services for a section of Kenyan users.
The developments have raised concerns among Kenyans who rely on international payment platforms to receive money from family members abroad, conduct freelance work, operate online businesses, or move funds across borders.
However, each company’s restrictions have different circumstances, and there is currently no evidence that all of the companies took action for the same reason.
