The President of Nigeria signs an executive order to regulate the virtual asset industry

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has signed an executive order on virtual assets aimed at regulating virtual assets and combating unregistered operators. The measure has taken effect immediately and will establish a new supervisory framework to coordinate the fragmented regulatory environment.

The newly established Virtual Assets Committee will serve as the main policy-making and coordinating body, chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (NSEC) as vice-chairs. An Office of Virtual Assets will be set up within the CBN to handle daily inter-agency operations and information sharing. Securities-related financial activities will be managed by the NSEC, while payment, settlement, and custody services for non-securities virtual assets will be managed by the CBN.

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