The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the regulatory body overseeing the Nigerian capital market on May 13, 2022, issued New Rules on Issuance, Offering Platforms, and Custody of Digital Assets in an effort to bring some regulatory clarity to a hitherto pseudo-unregulated space. The Rules provide guidance on the issuance of Digital Assets as securities, and on the registration requirements for Digital Assets Offering Platforms, Custodians, Services Providers, and Exchanges.

The Nigerian SEC Regulation imposes minimum capital requirements,  licensing and authorisation requirements, and an array of disclosure and compliance requirements on entities looking to offer any kind of crypto products and services in Nigeria or to Nigerians

While the Central Bank of Nigeria had in 2021 placed a ban on bank accounts owned by crypto-related entities, which is at variance with the recent move by the Nigerian SEC, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), an autonomous unit of the Central Bank of Nigeria appears to be putting together a piece of follow-up regulation for virtual assets and service providers in Nigeria – a potential effort toward building a harmonised regulatory environment for an emerging asset class