Tinubu Establishes CBN-Led Council to Coordinate Crypto Oversight

President Bola Tinubu has signed an executive order creating a central coordination structure for Nigeria’s virtual asset industry, placing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the head of a council involving the country’s financial, tax and security authorities.

The Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination 2026 took effect immediately after it was signed on Friday, July 17.

The initiative is intended to resolve uncertainty created by the different ways digital assets can function. Depending on their design, virtual assets may operate as investment securities, payment instruments, stores of value or mechanisms for transferring funds.

These overlapping characteristics have previously created disputes over which Nigerian institution should supervise particular products and service providers.

Under the new arrangement, the CBN will chair the Virtual Asset Council. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Nigerian Revenue Service will serve as vice-chairs, while the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit and Office of the National Security Adviser will also participate.

The council will work with the Attorney-General of the Federation to develop a common legal and institutional approach to the sector.

Its responsibilities will include coordinating policy, improving information exchange and resolving cases in which the appropriate regulator cannot be determined easily.

The order does not establish an additional financial regulator as existing agencies will continue exercising the powers granted to them by law, but their decisions and supervisory activities will be coordinated through the council.

Responsibility for registration will depend on the service being offered and the economic characteristics of the asset involved.

The SEC will oversee virtual assets and activities that fall within securities regulation. The CBN will handle payment, settlement, custody and related services involving virtual assets that are not classified as securities.

Where a business model cuts across both categories or cannot be classified immediately, the council will determine how regulatory responsibility should be assigned.

This activity-based system could provide greater certainty for exchanges, custodians, payment companies and blockchain businesses.

Operators have previously faced the risk of falling between regulatory mandates or being required to respond separately to agencies with overlapping interests.

A Virtual Asset Office will handle the council’s daily operations, with its secretariat located at the CBN. It will coordinate applications, reporting and information sharing through an integrated supervisory technology platform.

Participating agencies will have shared visibility of relevant information but will continue controlling their respective data.

The arrangement could make it easier to identify businesses attempting to exploit differences between regulatory databases.

The government said weak coordination had exposed Nigerians to fraudulent platforms and unregistered operators. Other concerns include money laundering, terrorism financing, cyberattacks, data breaches and the loss of tax revenue from digital transactions.

The framework could make enforcement more effective by allowing financial intelligence, tax, securities and banking regulators to compare information more quickly.

It may also reduce the ability of an operator rejected by one agency to continue functioning outside the view of others.

However, the system’s effectiveness will depend on whether agencies can share information without creating new approval delays.

A coordinated framework could become another source of bureaucracy if businesses must still complete multiple applications and receive separate decisions from each participating institution.

The CBN is also preparing a regulatory sandbox for virtual asset products and blockchain-based services. Eligible companies will be allowed to test their offerings under controlled conditions before making them available to the wider public.

The sandbox should give regulators an opportunity to assess how proposed products could affect financial stability, consumer protection, monetary policy, market integrity and financial inclusion.

Participation in the testing programme will not necessarily amount to permanent regulatory approval. The CBN is expected to publish detailed eligibility requirements, operating limits and assessment procedures separately.

The Nigerian Revenue Service will also introduce a tax policy for the virtual asset sector. The policy is expected to clarify how existing tax laws apply to transactions, service providers and taxpayers dealing in digital assets.

Clearer tax treatment could improve compliance and help businesses plan their operations. It will be important, however, for the policy to distinguish between trading gains, service revenue, token issuance and transfers between wallets to avoid taxing transactions that do not produce actual income.

A wider Virtual Assets White Paper is being completed to define Nigeria’s longer-term objectives for the industry. The council has 30 days to prepare a harmonised implementation framework for the agencies covered by the order.

The executive order signals a shift from fragmented enforcement towards coordinated supervision, but it does not amount to unrestricted acceptance of cryptocurrency businesses.

Operators must still obtain the approvals appropriate to their activities and satisfy anti-money-laundering, consumer-protection and reporting requirements.