Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has moved to close regulatory gaps in the country’s booming crypto market by signing an executive order that coordinates oversight of digital assets across financial, tax and capital market agencies.
What the order does
- Signed Friday, the directive creates a common framework for virtual-asset regulation, directing agencies to cooperate more closely while preserving each regulator’s existing legal powers.
- Instead of creating a new watchdog, the order establishes a virtual asset council made up of senior financial regulators to steer policy and plug gaps that allowed some unregistered crypto businesses to operate without oversight.
- Registration and compliance will follow an activity-based model: requirements depend on the services offered (exchange, payment provider, investment platform) and the type of asset, rather than the institution’s label. Presidential special adviser Bayo Onanuga said that approach “coordinates their work rather than replacing it,” while giving operators clearer rules and reducing the chance of regulatory arbitrage.
- Tax enforcement of digital-asset activity is folded into the coordinated framework. The directive does not change tax rates, but the Nigerian Revenue Service (NIRS) will issue guidance on how the order affects taxpayers.
Legislative and reporting context
- The executive move runs in parallel with parliamentary work. In June, the Senate advanced the Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulation Bill, 2026 (SB 956) at second reading. The bill — sponsored by Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin and presented by Senate Chief Whip Mohammed Monguno — would introduce licensing, transparency and compliance rules for crypto exchanges and other virtual-asset businesses serving Nigerians. SB 956 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Capital Market for review, amendments and public input; it still needs committee approval, a third reading and other legislative steps to become law.
- Tax authorities have already tightened reporting: since early 2026, crypto service providers must link transactions with tax identification numbers (and in some cases national IDs) under the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025. This aligns Nigeria with the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, which came into effect Jan. 1, 2026 and enables cross-border information exchange on crypto transactions.
Why this matters
- Nigeria is a major crypto hub. An IMF June report estimated about $59 billion in crypto-asset inflows into Nigeria between July 2023 and June 2024, and put Nigeria at roughly 60% of all stablecoin inflows into sub-Saharan Africa since 2019.
- Households and small businesses have increasingly used U.S. dollar‑pegged stablecoins for remittances, paying overseas suppliers and protecting savings amid currency pressure — turning stablecoins into a key cross-border payment route. The IMF warned, however, that rapid stablecoin growth is straining monetary and regulatory frameworks and urged a balanced strategy that enables new services while managing risks.
- Tinubu’s order targets the regulatory side of that challenge by coordinating agencies, clarifying registration rules and bringing tax enforcement into the same oversight structure — steps that could reduce fraud, limit unregulated activity and give compliant businesses clearer operating rules.
What’s next
- The practical impact will depend on NIRS guidance, the virtual asset council’s policy work and the Senate committee’s review of SB 956. Together these will shape how registration, supervision, taxation and consumer protections are applied to crypto firms and their customers in Nigeria.
Bottom line: The executive order is a significant push toward coordinated crypto oversight in one of Africa’s largest digital-asset markets — aiming to close loopholes without stripping regulators of their statutory powers, while lawmakers and tax authorities continue to fill in the details.
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