Nigeria Enacts Coordinated Crypto Oversight Framework

TLDR

Nigeria has adopted a coordinated crypto oversight framework that centralizes regulation of virtual assets while keeping existing agencies in charge of their specialties.

1. President Tinubu signed the Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, creating a national council and office to unify crypto oversight.
2. The framework divides responsibilities between the Central Bank, Securities regulator, and tax authority, tightening rules on unregistered operators, fraud, and AML.
3. The council has 30 days to deliver implementation rules, including a sandbox and tax policy, which will decide how friendly the regime is to exchanges and startups.

Deep Dive

1. What Was Enacted

Nigerias President Bola Tinubu has signed the Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026, a binding directive that takes effect immediately and creates a coordinated oversight system for crypto and other virtual assets. The order establishes a Virtual Asset Council chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with the Revenue Service and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as vice chairs, plus intelligence and security agencies, to resolve jurisdictional questions and set policy across the sector as described in the new Nigeria Crypto Regulation order.

A dedicated Virtual Asset Office inside the CBN will manage day-to-day coordination and information sharing via a shared technology platform, aiming to stop agencies from operating in silos and leaving gaps that fraudsters can exploit, a problem presidential advisers have highlighted in recent reporting.

2. Impact On Crypto Activity

The order does not create a new regulator or strip powers from existing ones. Instead, it formalizes a split: SEC Nigeria handles securities-linked tokens and investment products, while the CBN oversees payments, settlement, and custody for non-security virtual assets, including exchanges and wallet providers, according to multiple detailed reports such as this sector oversight breakdown.

Unregistered operators are a clear target, and the Revenue Service is tasked with developing a specific tax policy for crypto to encourage compliance. For users and businesses, this points toward stricter KYC/AML, formal licensing, and clearer categorization of tokens, which could improve consumer protection but raise operating costs, especially for smaller or informal P2P platforms.

3. What To Watch Next

The Virtual Asset Council has 30 days to produce an implementation framework, including how registration will work, what minimum standards exchanges and custodians must meet, and how the regulatory sandbox at the CBN will be used for testing new products before public launch, as outlined in the rollout timetable.

Officials are also preparing a broader Virtual Assets White Paper setting long-term strategy, and Nigeria is positioning itself alongside other African countries moving from bans and informal crackdowns toward registration-based regimes. The balance between tight AML controls and innovation-friendly sandbox rules will determine whether Nigeria becomes a regional hub or pushes activity offshore to more permissive jurisdictions.

Confidence: high because multiple independent regulatory-focused reports describe the same council structure, responsibilities, and 30-day implementation window.

Conclusion

Nigerias new framework marks a shift from fragmented, sometimes hostile treatment of crypto to a coordinated, rules-based regime that clarifies who regulates what. If the upcoming implementation rules keep licensing and tax demands proportional, this could channel Nigerias large user base into safer, more investable platforms. If they are overly restrictive, the main effect could be migration of activity to foreign venues, even as domestic policy claims greater control.