Nigeria signs order harmonizing digital asset rules

TLDR

Nigeria has adopted an executive order that unifies how its agencies oversee cryptocurrencies and other digital assets while keeping existing regulators in charge.

1. The new Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination creates a Virtual Asset Council and Office to harmonize oversight, registration and supervision of all digital asset activity.
2. The framework targets fraud, money laundering and tax gaps in a market that has handled around $59 billion in crypto inflows over a year, without banning crypto or adding a new regulator.
3. Over the next 30 days, Nigerian regulators must publish detailed implementation, sandbox and tax rules, which will clarify licensing, reporting and treatment of exchanges, P2P platforms and stablecoin use.

Deep Dive

1. New Coordinated Framework

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed the Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, effective immediately, to fix what his office calls fragmented digital asset oversight. 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 the Financial Intelligence Unit and National Security Adviser as members.

A new Virtual Asset Office at the CBN will coordinate day to day information sharing and applications via a shared technology platform, but each agency keeps its existing mandate. Securities type tokens remain under the SEC, while payments, settlements and custody for non security virtual assets sit with the CBN, using an activity based registration model that closes loopholes for unregistered operators. The council has 30 days to deliver a harmonized implementation framework for the order, according to official summaries such as the Virtual Assets Coordination notice and aligned coverage from Cointelegraph.

2. Why It Matters For Users And Markets

Nigerian officials say the priority is protecting citizens from fraud and curbing money laundering and terrorism financing, after unregulated schemes reportedly wiped out some families savings. The order sits alongside earlier steps that already require crypto service providers to link transactions to tax identification and, in some cases, national ID numbers, with the Revenue Service now tasked to publish a dedicated digital asset tax policy.

Nigeria is a major crypto market. IMF data cited in recent reports show about $59 billion in crypto inflows from July 2023 to June 2024, and roughly 60 percent of stablecoin inflows into sub Saharan Africa, while other research estimates more than 20 million Nigerians use or hold crypto. That scale makes regulatory clarity vital for both local users and global platforms watching the market.

3. Key Things To Watch Next

In the near term, three signals will matter most.

1. The Virtual Asset Councils 30 day implementation framework, which should spell out licensing categories, supervisory responsibilities and how P2P, exchanges and custodians are treated.
2. The CBNs regulatory sandbox rules, which will show how friendly the environment is to new virtual asset products and which business models get early access.
3. The Revenue Services tax policy and the Senates separate Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulation Bill, which together will define long term obligations on reporting, transparency and compliance, as highlighted in analyses from Crypto.news.

Conclusion

Nigeria is moving from fragmented, sometimes hostile oversight toward a coordinated, rules based regime for digital assets that tries to balance innovation with fraud and AML controls. If implementation is coherent and not overly restrictive, the country could become a more attractive and predictable market for exchanges, stablecoin issuers and local fintechs, though compliance costs will rise. The next month of frameworks and tax guidance will determine whether this harmonization turns into practical clarity or prolonged uncertainty for crypto users and businesses.