Nigeria sets 30-day deadline for CBN-led Virtual Assets Council rulebook
Tinubu’s July 17 order splits oversight, putting stablecoins and custody under the central bank and securities-like products under the SEC.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu signed an executive order on July 17 creating a five-agency Virtual Assets Council chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The order took effect immediately and gives the council 30 days to publish an implementation framework that divides supervision between the CBN and the securities regulator.
Key Takeaways
- Nigeria’s July 17 executive order created a five-agency Virtual Assets Council chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria to coordinate digital-asset oversight.
- The directive took effect immediately under Section 5 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution and sets a 30-day deadline for an implementation framework.
- Oversight is activity-based: stablecoin issuers plus payment, clearing/settlement, and custody providers sit under the CBN, while “securities-like” products must register with Nigeria’s SEC.
- The council’s described membership includes the SEC, the tax authority as vice chair alongside the SEC, a financial intelligence unit, and a national security office, with a sandbox and draft tax regime also flagged.
Tinubu’s Executive Order Creates a CBN-Led Virtual Assets Council
President Bola Tinubu signed the Virtual Assets Coordination Executive Order 2026 on July 17, establishing a Virtual Assets Council tasked with coordinating registration, supervision, and enforcement across Nigeria’s digital-asset ecosystem.
The order entered into force immediately under Section 5 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution. The stated policy rationale is coordination and fraud prevention, with the presidency describing a market where unregistered and fraudulent operators exploited gaps created by overlapping mandates.
The council is described as a five-agency structure chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Membership also includes Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the tax authority as vice chair alongside the SEC, a financial intelligence unit, and a national security office.
How Nigeria Splits Crypto Oversight Between the CBN and SEC
The executive order sketches an activity-based perimeter rather than a single “crypto regulator” model. Securities-like products are routed to SEC registration, while payment, clearing and settlement, custody services, and stablecoin issuers fall under the CBN’s umbrella.
For market participants, that split matters because it implies different compliance expectations depending on what a business actually does. Token offerings that end up categorized as securities-like face a securities regulator pathway, while stablecoin rails, custody, and payment plumbing are explicitly placed with the central bank that chairs the council.
The structure also signals where supervisory gravity is likely to sit. With the CBN in the chair role and stablecoin issuers and custody/payment providers assigned to it, monetary and financial-stability priorities look set to shape how crypto rails are monitored, even as the SEC retains authority over products treated as investment instruments.
Sandbox and Draft Tax Regime: What’s Been Signaled So Far
Beyond licensing and supervision, the order flags two additional tracks: a regulatory sandbox for blockchain products and a sector-specific tax regime described as being in draft form.
A sandbox is a controlled testing program where firms can trial products under regulator supervision with tailored constraints. If implemented with clear eligibility and timelines, it can become a de-risked on-ramp for compliant product launches. The tax signal is equally material. By placing the tax authority inside the council and referencing a draft regime, Nigeria is designing tax treatment alongside supervision rather than leaving it as a later clean-up exercise.
The 30-Day Implementation Framework: The Next Hard Deadline
The council must publish an implementation framework within 30 days of the order taking effect. That deadline creates a near-term catalyst window because the framework is where definitions and operating rules should land, including what qualifies as a “securities-like product,” what registration steps look like, and how enforcement is sequenced.
Traders and compliance-sensitive desks will also be looking for concrete launch details on the CBN-described sandbox, including permitted test activities and timelines. The draft sector-specific tax regime is another swing factor, particularly whether it targets exchanges, issuers, or transaction flows.
A parallel legislative track is also in motion. SB 956, described as a Virtual Asset Service Providers bill, passed second reading in the Senate in June 2026, and its progress could either reinforce or complicate the executive-order framework depending on how the two regimes align.
Why This Structure Matters for Stablecoin Rails and Compliance Risk
The market impact here is less about a single headline and more about where Nigeria is drawing the compliance boundary. The order’s activity-based split is a practical map for who gets supervised like a payments business versus who gets treated like an issuer of securities-like products, and that distinction is where costs, timelines, and enforcement risk usually diverge.
The threshold that matters is the 30-day framework. If it delivers tight definitions and a workable registration path, the setup starts to look structural rather than narrative-driven, especially for stablecoin issuers and custody/payment providers now explicitly routed to the CBN. If the framework is vague or delayed, uncertainty persists and the council risks becoming a coordination layer without the rule clarity that actually changes behavior in stablecoin on/off-ramps and compliance budgeting.
