Nigeria's President Signs Executive Order to Regulate Virtual Asset Industry

: Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has signed a Virtual Asset Executive Order aimed at regulating virtual assets and cracking down on unregistered operators. The measure has taken immediate effect and will establish a new oversight framework to coordinate the fragmented regulatory environment. A newly established Virtual Asset Committee will serve as the primary policy-making and coordination body, chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with the Nigerian Tax Authority and the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (NSEC) serving as vice-chairs. A Virtual Asset Office will be set up within the CBN to handle daily inter-agency operations and information sharing. Securities-related financial activities will be managed by the NSEC, while payment, settlement, and custody services for non-securities virtual assets will be under the CBN's jurisdiction. The CBN plans to launch a regulatory sandbox, allowing qualified operators to test virtual asset products and blockchain solutions in a monitored environment. The Virtual Asset Committee is required to formulate an implementation framework for the executive order within 30 days.