President Bola Tinubu has signed an executive order establishing a coordinated regulatory framework for virtual assets, with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) leading oversight of the sector.
The presidency announced on Friday that the presidential executive order on virtual assets coordination, 2026, takes immediate effect.
In a statement on Friday, Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, said the order seeks to harmonise the regulation of virtual assets, strengthen collaboration among financial regulators, protect Nigerians from fraud and support responsible innovation.
According to the statement, the order was necessitated by a fragmented regulatory environment in which virtual assets increasingly blur “the traditional boundaries between currencies, money, commodities and securities”.
The presidency said the lack of coordination among regulators had exposed Nigeria to money laundering, terrorism financing, cyber threats,
