{ "jurisdiction_id": "NG", "jurisdiction": "Nigeria", "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/nigeria/", "generator": "render_jid v13.3.0", "date_modified": "2026-08-05", "schema_version": "crypto-v2.0.0", "counts": { "modules": 8, "sourced_findings": 17, "source_register": 12 }, "modules": [ { "code": "crypto_licensing", "name": "Crypto Licensing", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/nigeria/#crypto-licensing-crypto-licensing", "standing_position": "Nigeria has moved from an outright banking-access ban (2017/2021) to a transitional licensing regime anchored in the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) 2022 'New Rules on Issuance, Offering Platforms and Custody of Digital Assets' and the newly passed Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2025, which for the first time gives statutory backing to SEC licensing of crypto exchanges. Exchanges progress through the SEC's Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Program (ARIP), a one-year supervised test-run before full registration. Quidax and Busha are the first firms to receive SEC licenses/provisional approval (August 2024). Concurrently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governs bank-side access: it rescinded its 2021 ban on banks servicing VASPs in December 2023 (circular FPR/DIR/PUB/CIR/002/003) and issued implementing guidelines in January 2024, though banks remain barred from holding or trading crypto for their own account. The regime is best characterized as transitional given the 2025 statutory update, the still-evolving incubation-to-license pipeline, and a 2024 enforcement crackdown (platform blocking, account freezes) that ran concurrently with the licensing thaw.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "token_classification", "name": "Token Classification", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/nigeria/#token-classification-token-classification", "standing_position": "Nigeria's SEC applies a default rule that all digital assets are presumptively securities unless shown otherwise, articulated in the 2022 Digital Assets Rules. Beyond this blanket default, no granular multi-category token taxonomy (comparable to MiCA's ART/EMT/utility split) has been confirmed in primary sources; classification of specific token types (utility tokens, NFTs, stablecoins) as distinct sub-categories remains unconfirmed pending primary-source review.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "on_chain_activity_regime", "name": "On-Chain Activity Regime", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/nigeria/#on-chain-activity-regime-on-chain-activity-regime", "standing_position": "No dedicated Nigerian regulatory regime specific to staking, DeFi lending, DEX operation, mining, node operation, validator activity, or tokenization was identified in available sources. Existing SEC rules address exchange- and custodian-level registration but do not appear to speak directly to protocol-level on-chain activities. This module is emitted with an empty claims set reflecting a genuine regulatory gap rather than an omission.", "findings": [] }, { "code": "stablecoin_regime", "name": "Stablecoin Regime", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/nigeria/#stablecoin-regime-stablecoin-regime", "standing_position": "Nigeria has not been confirmed to operate a dedicated licensing/authorisation, reserve-requirement, redemption-right, or disclosure framework for privately issued stablecoins (e.g., USD-pegged tokens such as USDT/USDC circulating informally in-market). The CBN's eNaira is a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) launched October 2021 -- a sovereign digital currency, not a privately issued stablecoin -- and is issued under CBN's existing statutory mandate rather than a stablecoin-specific framework. No systemic designation or reserve/redemption regime for private stablecoins was located.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "consumer_protection", "name": "Consumer Protection", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/nigeria/#consumer-protection-consumer-protection", "standing_position": "The SEC's 2022 Digital Assets Rules impose fee-transparency and disclosure-style obligations on registered exchanges, requiring them to be fair, reasonable and transparent with fees and to obtain a 'no objection' letter from the SEC before listing each asset. Beyond this, granular consumer-protection categories (custody segregation standards, formal complaint-handling mechanisms, suitability/appropriateness testing) were not confirmed in retrievable sources for the current in-force regime.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "tax_treatment", "name": "Tax Treatment", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/nigeria/#tax-treatment-tax-treatment", "standing_position": "Nigeria's tax authority (Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS) announced plans in mid-2024 to bring a dedicated crypto-taxation bill to parliament, but confirmation of final enactment and specific rate/base provisions (capital gains, income tax, VAT/GST, withholding, reporting obligations) applicable to digital assets was not retrieved from primary sources during this research pass. Existing general tax law may apply to disposals of digital assets by analogy, but this has not been confirmed for crypto specifically.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "cross_border_transfer", "name": "Cross-Border Transfer", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/nigeria/#cross-border-transfer-cross-border-transfer", "standing_position": "Nigeria's long-running foreign-exchange capital controls under the CBN intersect heavily with crypto usage: peer-to-peer crypto trading has functioned as a channel for Nigerians to access scarce US dollars amid naira devaluation, which regulators have characterized as contributing to currency pressure. In 2024 this culminated in a coordinated enforcement crackdown -- blocking access to platforms including Binance, Kraken and Coinbase, freezing over 1,100 bank accounts linked to crypto traders, restricting several fintech platforms from onboarding new customers, and the National Security Adviser classifying crypto trading as a national-security issue. Binance was also assessed a $10B demand by the Nigerian government and had two executives detained, one on money-laundering and currency-speculation charges. No Nigeria-specific confirmation of Travel Rule cross-border implementation for VASPs was located in this pass.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "aml_cft_regime", "name": "AML/CFT Regime", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/nigeria/#aml-cft-regime-aml-cft-regime", "standing_position": "Crypto AML/CFT obligations for Nigeria are handled under the fleet's shared Financial Integrity Module (FIM) 'aml_ctf' subscription and are therefore NOT re-produced as claims in this crypto baseline, per module subscription rules. For disambiguation context only: Nigeria's SEC issued an AML/CFT/CPF onboarding manual (March 2024) for licensing/registration and ongoing screening of VASP beneficial owners, and Nigeria participates in the regional FATF-style body GIABA (Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa) for mutual evaluation of AML/CFT/VASP compliance. These are noted for cross-reference only; substantive AML/CFT claims should be sourced from the FIM baseline.", "findings": [] } ] }