Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has enacted an executive order to close regulatory gaps in the country’s cryptocurrency market, which attracted approximately $59 billion in inflows between July 2023 and June 2024, according to the International Monetary Fund.
The directive, signed on Friday, establishes a coordinated framework for overseeing virtual assets without creating a new regulatory body. Instead, it forms a virtual asset council led by senior financial regulators to align policy and close oversight loopholes that allowed some unregistered crypto businesses to operate freely.
Framework Details and Regulatory Coordination
Presidential special adviser Bayo Onanuga explained that the order preserves each agency’s statutory powers while coordinating their efforts across financial, tax, and capital market sectors. This approach maintains the existing mandates of securities, banking, revenue, and financial crime agencies but facilitates collaboration through a joint policy structure.
Registration and supervision will vary depending on the type of crypto service or asset involved. Onanuga emphasized that this activity-based system provides clearer guidelines for operators and reduces the risk of companies evading regulation by exploiting gaps between different agencies’ jurisdictions.
The Nigerian Revenue Service will issue further details on tax implications. Although no new tax rates are introduced, tax enforcement for digital assets will be integrated into the coordinated oversight framework.
Alongside the executive order, Nigeria’s Senate has advanced the Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulation Bill, 2026, indicating ongoing legislative efforts to formalize crypto regulation.
