One by one, the digital services many Kenyans use to earn and move money across borders have changed the rules. Over the past year, PayPal restricted accounts, Hurupay stopped its US dollar banking service, Sendwave paused its digital dollar wallet, and Twitch ended creator monetisation. The companies have given different explanations, ranging from banking problems and technical difficulties to routine compliance checks.
But the changes expose a growing vulnerability in Kenya’s digital economy. Freelancers, creators and businesses depend on a small number of foreign platforms and financial companies to receive income from abroad, leaving them exposed whenever a provider changes its products, banking relationships or risk policies.
Between August 2025 and July 2026, the disruptions cut across creator income, cross-border banking and digital wallets, with no evidence of a single trigger behind them. What connects the cases is the disruption faced by Kenyan users when decisions made by foreign platforms or their banking partners suddenly change how they can earn or move money.
Twitch and PayPal did not respond to TechCabal’s requests for comment. Hurupay, Zepz, Sendwave’s parent company, and Wise responded and pushed back against some of the explanations circulating around their decisions.
Originally published by TechCabal.