Nigeria signs order creating virtual asset council

TLDR

Nigeria has created a national Virtual Asset Council through a new executive order, shifting crypto oversight from fragmented rules to a single coordinated framework.

1. The order sets up a Virtual Asset Council and office under the Central Bank, with tax and securities regulators as key members.
2. Oversight duties are split between the Central Bank, the securities regulator, and a new coordination council, with a sandbox for crypto and blockchain products.
3. Over the next 30 days, Nigeria will design the implementation framework and a broader virtual assets strategy, which will shape how exchanges and users operate.

Deep Dive

1. New Council And Order

On 17 Jul, President Bola Tinubu signed the Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026, creating a Virtual Asset Council as Nigerias main crypto policy body. Reports describe the council as chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with the tax authority and Securities and Exchange Commission acting as vice chairs, alongside intelligence and security agencies as members. A dedicated Virtual Asset Office inside the CBN will handle daily coordination and information sharing via a shared technology platform, according to the official-style Virtual Assets Coordination order.

2. How Oversight Will Work

The order does not replace existing regulators, but clarifies who handles what. The Nigerian SEC will oversee securities-linked token activity and registration, while the CBN will supervise payments, settlements, and custody services for non-security virtual assets, as described in a detailed Bitcoin.com report. The Virtual Asset Council will resolve grey areas where jurisdiction is unclear and will run a regulatory sandbox so exchanges and startups can test virtual asset products and blockchain solutions under supervision. The Nigeria Revenue Service is tasked with developing a specific tax policy for virtual assets, aiming to encourage voluntary compliance.

3. Timelines And What To Watch

The council has 30 days to produce an implementation framework for the order, and the government is working on a longer-term Virtual Assets White Paper that will set strategy for the sector. Nigeria already has one of Africas largest crypto-using populations, so effective rollout could make it a regional leader in regulated digital assets. Key signals to watch are: which licenses and registration routes are defined for exchanges and fintechs; how strict tax treatment becomes; and how quickly the sandbox starts admitting projects.

Confidence: high, because multiple independent regulatory-focused reports describe the same order and structure in detail.

Conclusion

Nigerias new Virtual Asset Council marks a clear move from ad hoc restrictions to structured, multi-agency oversight of crypto. If implementation is timely and balanced, it could reduce fraud and regulatory uncertainty while opening the door for more institutional and cross-border participation. If rollout is slow or overly burdensome, smaller operators and peer-to-peer users may face friction, and the benefits of clarity could take longer to materialize.