Summary
President Bola Tinubu signed the Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026, to harmonize the regulation of virtual assets across Nigeria's fragmented financial, revenue, and capital markets agencies. The Order establishes a Virtual Asset Council chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as vice-chairs, alongside the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The Order creates a Virtual Asset Office as the Council's operational body, domiciled at the CBN, responsible for day-to-day coordination of information sharing, applications, and reporting. It also mandates an integrated supervisory technology platform providing shared visibility while preserving each agency's data ownership. The CBN is proceeding with a regulatory sandbox for virtual assets, and the NRS will release a tax policy for the sector. A comprehensive Virtual Assets White Paper is being finalized to set longer-term policy direction.
Key Facts
- Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026 — effective immediately
- Virtual Asset Council: CBN (chair), NRS and SEC (vice-chairs), NFIU, ONSA
- Virtual Asset Office: operational body, secretariat at CBN
- Integrated supervisory technology platform for shared agency visibility
- Registration: SEC for securities-like activities; CBN for payment/settlement/custody of non-security virtual assets
- CBN regulatory sandbox for virtual assets — details to be announced
- NRS to release tax policy for virtual assets sector
- Comprehensive Virtual Assets White Paper being finalized
- Council directed to develop Harmonised Implementation Framework within 30 days
- Order does NOT create new regulator or transfer powers between agencies
- Responds to fragmented regulatory environment with overlapping and gaps exposing risks (money laundering, terrorism financing, fraud, revenue losses)
Why It Matters
Nigeria's Executive Order is a significant step toward regulatory clarity in one of Africa's largest crypto markets. By creating a coordinated framework rather than a new regulator, the Order addresses the fragmentation that has allowed unregistered operators to exploit gaps. The CBN-led sandbox and NRS tax policy will provide much-needed certainty for legitimate operators. The approach — coordination without centralization — could serve as a model for other emerging markets grappling with crypto regulation.