Nigeria’s market regulator has made a set of rules for crypto assets. It shows that Africa’s most populous country is trying to find a middle ground between a complete ban on crypto assets and their use without any rules.
Last year, the central bank of Nigeria told banks and other financial institutions that they couldn’t deal in or help transactions with digital currencies.
But the young, tech-savvy people in the country have embraced cryptocurrencies. For example, they use peer-to-peer trading through cryptocurrency exchanges to get around the ban on the financial sector.
What Nigerian SEC Has To Say About The New Rules For Crypto assets
On its website, Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the “New Rules on Issuance, Offering Platforms, and Custody of Digital Assets.”
The 54-page document sets registration rules for digital asset offers and custodians. It also says that digital assets are securities regulated by the SEC.
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A central bank spokesman did not return calls to his cell phone. The SEC said that no digital asset exchange would be allowed to trade assets unless the commission got a “no objection” ruling.
A digital asset exchange will be needed to pay a registration cost of 30 million naira ($72,289) and other taxes.
Nigeria created a digital currency, the eNaira, in October to increase access to banking. Unlike Bitcoin, the central bank is backed and managed by official digital currencies.