Kenya plans to tax YouTube earnings at 5%

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Victoria from Techpoint here,

Here’s what I’ve got for you today:

Kenya to tax YouTube earnings at 5%
UMB wins approval to bank virtual-asset businesses
Terra Industries hires ex-Palantir executive

Kenya to tax YouTube earnings at 5%

Hand holding a device — Photo by Szabo Viktor on Unsplash

Kenyan YouTubers are about to see a little less money land in their accounts. From September 2026, Google will start withholding 5% of YouTube earnings from Kenya-based AdSense for YouTube accounts, with the first affected earnings being those generated in September and paid out in October. Google has also told creators to submit a valid Kenyan KRA Personal Identification Number (PIN) through AdSense by October 1, 2026, or their payments could be held.

The important bit is that this isn’t Google suddenly deciding to take a 5% cut for itself. It is a Kenyan withholding tax, with Google acting as the payer that deducts and remits the money to the Kenya Revenue Authority. So, if a creator has KSh100,000 in finalised YouTube earnings, KSh5,000 would be withheld, leaving KSh95,000 at payout before any other applicable deductions. For resident creators, the 5% generally works as an advance payment towards their Kenyan tax bill rather than automatically being their final tax liability.

That distinction matters because the conversation around the change can easily become confusing, especially when US taxes are also involved. Kenyan creators have previously had to deal with US withholding on earnings from viewers in the US. In 2021, Google announced that it would begin withholding US taxes from creators outside America, with the amount depending on their tax information and US-source earnings. The new Kenyan deduction is a separate obligation, so it doesn’t mean every Kenyan YouTuber will suddenly lose 35% of every payment.

The bigger story is Kenya’s attempt to capture more tax from its growing digital economy. YouTube has become a serious source of income for Kenyan creators, from entertainers and podcasters to educators, influencers and businesses. Instead of leaving creators to account for the tax later, the new system moves part of that collection directly into the payment process. That means creators will need to pay closer attention to their AdSense records, tax returns and the amount already withheld from their earnings.

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For creators, the immediate homework is pretty simple: get your KRA PIN into AdSense and make sure your tax information is correct before October 1. The bigger adjustment will be financial. Creators who depend heavily on YouTube income will now have to plan around receiving 5% less at payout, even though that amount may later be credited against their final tax liability. And for Kenya, this is another sign that the government increasingly sees the creator economy not just as an internet phenomenon but as a taxable source of income.

UMB wins approval to bank virtual-asset businesses

UMB is now the first bank approved by both the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offer virtual accounts to eligible businesses in the country’s virtual asset ecosystem. The approval, announced on August 29, 2026, per Citi Newsroom, gives UMB a way to serve businesses operating around crypto, blockchain, tokenisation, and other virtual-asset activities through regulated banking infrastructure.

What this means in practice is that eligible virtual asset businesses that have struggled to get proper banking relationships could have another route into Ghana’s formal financial system. UMB says the virtual account service will still be subject to regulatory requirements and eligibility conditions, so this is not a blanket green light for every crypto company. But it is a meaningful shift because the bank is positioning itself between traditional finance and a digital-asset industry that has often struggled with access to mainstream banking.

The timing is important. Ghana is actively building a more structured regulatory framework for virtual assets and virtual asset service providers, rather than leaving the sector largely outside the formal financial system. The BoG says Ghana’s virtual asset ecosystem has grown to more than 3 million users and has made clear that virtual assets can no longer sit outside the country’s financial regulatory framework. The SEC, meanwhile, is stressing that banks and other financial institutions need the right controls if they want to participate in the sector.

For UMB, this is also part of a bigger transformation push. The bank has been investing in digital banking through platforms such as SpeedApp and internet banking, while trying to build technology around changing customer needs. Then, in July 2026, Ghana’s Finance Minister announced the completion of the Ghana Amalgamated Trust’s full recapitalisation of UMB, giving the bank a stronger capital base for its next phase of growth. The virtual-account approval therefore comes at a point when UMB is trying to position itself for new areas of financial activity rather than simply offering traditional banking products.

Ghana is moving towards a model where crypto and other virtual-asset businesses can operate within clearer rules, while banks can participate without stepping outside their regulatory obligations. UMB now has an early-mover advantage: it can build relationships with eligible virtual-asset firms, learn the market and develop products around their needs. For Ghana’s fintech and digital-asset ecosystem, that could mean better access to banking infrastructure; for UMB, it is a bet that virtual assets will become a more important part of the country’s financial system.

Terra Industries hires ex-Palantir executive

Terra Industries has added another heavyweight to its leadership team, Todd Stiefler, a former Palantir and WHOOP executive, as its Director of Commercial, as the Nigerian defence-tech startup prepares for a much bigger commercial push. His job will be to lead the company’s commercial division as Terra moves from serving African defence and security customers towards a broader global market. The appointment comes just a week after the company hired former SpaceX executive Ben MacWilliams as VP of Strategy.

Stiefler brings an interesting mix of government, defence, and technology experience. He started out at the US Department of State and US Senate, before working at GE Digital and GE Aviation, where he worked on product marketing and management across defence, aviation and oil and gas. More recently, he spent 11 months in business development at Palantir, then joined wearable-tech company WHOOP as VP of Enterprise. He also founded Shipton Global Advisors, a consultancy focused on helping technology companies expand into African markets.

His appointment makes sense when you look at where Terra is heading. Earlier this month, the company raised an additional $18 million, bringing its total funding to about $51.7 million, after rounds of $11.7 million in January and $22 million in February. Terra says it wants to build a vertically integrated defence company around autonomous systems rather than simply sell individual drones. It is already working with customers across sectors including oil, mining and power, and says its systems protect assets worth about $11 billion.

The company is also building the infrastructure to match those ambitions. In April 2026, Terra announced plans for Pax-2, a second manufacturing facility in Ghana that it said could eventually produce up to 50,000 drones a year. It has since opened a London office and is exploring manufacturing opportunities in the Middle East. Then, on August 19, former SpaceX director Ben MacWilliams joined to handle strategy, regulatory approvals and government partnerships as Terra expands into markets across the Global South.

There is a bigger story behind all these hires. Terra is trying to build an African defence company with the ambition and infrastructure to compete internationally. The startup was founded in 2024 by Nathan Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka after the founders pivoted from an earlier bionic-technology project into drone-based surveillance and defence. Its first major funding came in January 2026, when it raised $11.75 million, led by 8VC, before returning to investors for more capital. Now, with fresh funding, new senior executives and manufacturing expansion, Terra appears to be moving from proving that Africa can build defence hardware to figuring out how to sell that technology at a global scale.

What I’m watching

How Money Became Life’s Only Purpose | Erich Fromm
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Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa