Nigerian President signs executive order to regulate the virtual asset industry

According to Odaily, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has signed an executive order on virtual assets aimed at regulating virtual assets and cracking down on unregistered operators. This measure takes immediate effect and will establish a new supervisory framework to coordinate the fragmented regulatory environment.

The newly established Virtual Asset Committee will serve as the main policymaking and coordination body, chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with the Nigerian Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (NSEC) as vice chairs.

Within the CBN, a Virtual Asset Office will be set up, responsible for day-to-day inter-agency operations and information sharing. Securities-related financial activities will be managed by the NSEC, while payment, settlement, and custody services for non-security virtual assets will be overseen by the CBN.

The CBN plans to launch a regulatory sandbox allowing qualified operators to test virtual asset products and blockchain solutions in a monitored environment. The Virtual Asset Committee is required to formulate an implementation framework for the executive order within 30 days.