Nigeria Launches Coordinated Regulatory Framework for Virtual Assets

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has signed the Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026, to harmonise the regulation of virtual assets, strengthen cooperation among the nation’s financial, revenue and capital markets agencies, protect citizens from fraud, and safeguard the integrity of the financial system while enabling responsible innovation.

The President signed the Order pursuant to Section 5 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered). The Executive Order takes effect immediately.

It responds to a regulatory environment that has become fragmented as virtual assets increasingly blur the traditional boundaries between currencies, money, commodities and securities.

With relevant agencies operating in silos, overlapping in some areas and leaving gaps in others, the country has been exposed to risks, including money laundering, terrorism financing, cybersecurity and data privacy threats, fraud, and revenue losses. Too often, unregistered and fraudulent operators have exploited these gaps to prey on unsuspecting Nigerians, costing families their savings.

The Order is designed to close these gaps through supervisory coordination, without introducing new layers of regulation or displacing the mandates of existing agencies.

To achieve this, the Order establishes a Virtual Asset Council, chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as vice-chairs, and comprising the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

The Council will provide policy direction, promote synergy among the participating agencies, and work with the Attorney-General of the Federation to develop a harmonised legal and institutional framework that aligns the sector with Nigeria’s national security, economic and social objectives.

The Order also establishes a Virtual Asset Office, the Council’s operational body, with its secretariat domiciled at the CBN. The Office will be responsible for the day-to-day coordination of information sharing, applications, and reporting among the agencies, supported by an integrated supervisory technology platform that provides shared visibility while preserving each agency’s ownership and control of its data.

Significantly, the Order does not create a new regulator or transfer powers between agencies. Each institution retains its full statutory mandate and independence, and the framework coordinates their work rather than replacing it. To provide certainty for operators and protection for the public, registration will follow the nature of the activity and the asset involved: activities like securities will be registered by the SEC, while payment, settlement, custody and related services involving non-security virtual assets will be registered by the CBN, with the Council resolving any case in which responsibility cannot be readily determined.

This closes the gaps through which unregistered operators have previously escaped oversight.

As part of the coordinated approach, the Central Bank of Nigeria is proceeding with a regulatory sandbox for virtual assets. The sandbox will provide a controlled environment in which eligible operators can test and operate virtual asset products, services, and blockchain-based solutions under close supervision, enabling the participating agencies to assess the implications for monetary sovereignty, financial stability, market integrity, consumer protection, financial inclusion, and revenue administration before products reach the wider market. It will help ensure that innovations that reach Nigerians have been properly examined and supervised.

The CBN will announce further details of the sandbox.

In the same spirit, the Nigerian Revenue Service will release a tax policy for the virtual assets sector.

The policy operationalises Nigeria’s tax laws as they apply to virtual assets, providing greater certainty for taxpayers and service providers, strengthening voluntary compliance, and ensuring that the sector contributes fairly to national revenue as it grows. It complements the coordination framework by aligning revenue administration with the work of the other participating authorities. The NRS will provide further details.

The Federal Government is also finalising a comprehensive Virtual Assets White Paper, which will set out the country’s longer-term policy direction and implementation priorities and serve as a roadmap for stakeholders across the sector.

The Council has been directed to develop a Harmonised Implementation Framework within 30 days to guide the participating agencies in giving effect to the Order and to ensure its expedited implementation.