SEC Proposes Rules to Regulate Nigeria's Digital Asset Market
Nigeria's digital-asset market is at a turning point where regulation is no longer a question of if, but how. The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) proposed rules for Digital and Virtual Asset Operations, Custody, and Markets are ambitious and aim to bring the rapidly evolving market within a credible framework of investor protection, market integrity, and responsible innovation.
The proposals include a N30 million registration fee for digital asset exchanges, custodians, platform operators, offering platforms, and real-world asset tokenization platforms. They also propose minimum capital requirements of N2 billion for digital asset exchanges and custodians, N500 million for platform operators, offering platforms, and real-world asset tokenization platforms, and N200 million for virtual asset service providers.
The framework's emphasis on fiduciary insurance, turnover-based supervisory fees, segregation, and protection of client assets is consistent with international regulatory thinking. However, concerns that the proposed capital thresholds are too high may create unnecessary barriers to innovation and competition.