Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has addressed what his office called fragmented regulation of digital assets.

Special Advisor to the President of Nigeria, Bayo Onanuga he said that the executive order signed on Friday will “harmonize regulation of virtual assets, strengthen cooperation among national financial, tax and capital markets agencies, protect citizens from fraud, and safeguard the integrity of the financial system while enabling responsible innovation.”

A Virtual Assets Council, headed by the country’s top financial regulators, has also been established to guide related policy, and the Nigerian Tax Authority will update its rules on digital assets.

“[T]The order does not create a new regulatory authority or transfer powers between agencies,” Onanuga said. “Each institution retains its full statutory mandate and independence, and the framework coordinates, rather than replaces, their work. To provide certainty for operators and protect the public, registration will be tailored to the nature of the business and the property concerned […] This closes loopholes through which unregistered operators previously escaped supervision.”

Nigeria has seen some of the strongest growth in digital asset usage in Africa, both in cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. According to a June report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country settled accounted for approximately 60% of stablecoin inflows in sub-Saharan Africa since 2019 and generated approximately $59 billion in cryptocurrency inflows between July 2023 and June 2024.

Source: IMF

Related: Blockchain.com enters Ghana following a 700% enhance in trade in Nigeria

“The political challenge is to reduce the gap that led to the solution [in cross-border payments] attractive while ensuring that new risks are mitigated,” the IMF said on the adoption of a stablecoin in Nigeria. “This requires a clear strategy: open to innovation, but rooted in sound macroeconomic policies and effective regulation.”

The Nigerian tax authority has changed its approach to digital assets

While the Implementing Order stated that the country’s tax authority, the Nigeria Revenue Agency, would provide additional details on the impact on taxpayers, the agency has already announced policy reforms.

In January, authorities said that under Nigeria’s Tax Administration Act, crypto service providers are required to link transactions to tax identification numbers and, in some cases, national identification numbers.

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