President Bola Tinubu has signed an Executive Order creating Nigeria’s first coordinated regulatory framework for virtual assets, bringing financial, capital market, revenue and national security agencies under a unified oversight structure aimed at strengthening investor protection, combating financial crimes and supporting responsible innovation.
The Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026, which takes immediate effect, seeks to eliminate regulatory overlaps, improve coordination among agencies, protect investors from fraudulent operators, strengthen anti-money laundering oversight and provide greater regulatory certainty for legitimate businesses operating in Nigeria’s digital asset ecosystem.
The Presidency said the Order became necessary because virtual assets increasingly cut across traditional financial, payment and investment systems, leaving regulatory gaps that have allowed fraudulent operators to evade oversight. Those gaps have exposed the country to risks including money laundering, terrorism financing, cybersecurity and data privacy threats, fraud and revenue losses.
The Executive Order establishes a Virtual Asset Council, chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) serving as vice-chairpersons. Other members include the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The Council will provide policy direction, strengthen cooperation among participating agencies and work with the Attorney-General of the Federation to develop a harmonised legal and institutional framework that aligns the virtual asset sector with Nigeria’s economic, financial and national security objectives.
Under the new framework, regulatory responsibility will depend on the nature of the asset or activity involved. Virtual assets classified as securities will continue to be regulated by the SEC, while payment, settlement, custody and related services involving non-security virtual assets will fall under the jurisdiction of the CBN. The Council will determine responsibility in cases where regulatory jurisdiction is unclear.
The Presidency stressed that the Executive Order does not create a new regulator or transfer statutory powers from existing agencies. Instead, it establishes a coordination mechanism that preserves the legal mandates and operational independence of participating institutions while closing the regulatory gaps that previously enabled unregistered operators to escape oversight.
The Order also established a Virtual Asset Office, domiciled at the CBN, as the Council’s operational arm. The Office will coordinate information sharing, applications and regulatory reporting among participating agencies through an integrated supervisory technology platform that enables shared visibility while allowing each institution to retain ownership and control of its data.
As part of the coordinated framework, the CBN will proceed with a regulatory sandbox for virtual assets. The sandbox will allow eligible firms to test virtual asset products, blockchain applications and related services in a controlled environment under close regulatory supervision before they are introduced to the wider market.
According to the Presidency, the sandbox will enable regulators to assess the implications of emerging technologies for monetary sovereignty, financial stability, market integrity, consumer protection, financial inclusion and revenue administration, helping ensure that innovations reaching Nigerians are properly evaluated before full-scale deployment.
The Executive Order marks Nigeria’s most comprehensive effort to establish a unified governance framework for virtual assets as the country seeks to expand its digital economy while strengthening consumer protection, improving regulatory certainty and addressing financial crime through coordinated oversight.
