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Local licences gate retail access
Nigeria's Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) brought new rules for non-security virtual assets into force on 5 November. They cover overseas businesses serving Nigerian users even if they have no physical presence in the country. Foreign issuers seeking retail customers must establish a Nigerian company, secure a Class 2 issuer licence and obtain approval for each token.
The CBN classifies naira-pegged tokens as Class 1 and those tied to foreign currencies as Class 2. Dollar-linked tokens such as USDT and USDC fall into the latter group. An issuer must hold paid-up capital of at least NGN15 billion (approximately $11.1 million), provide liquidity for local redemptions and ensure reserves are denominated in the token's reference currency, with a 2% buffer. It must also use a Nigerian bank to handle redemption requests.
Payment permissions follow activity
The SEC oversees trading and investment-related custody, while the CBN regulates payment and money-transfer services. A platform licensed by the SEC may list a stablecoin or hold it for trading clients, but customer transfers, merchant payments, remittances, payment gateways and stored-value products need separate CBN authorisation. Permissions are tied to the activity: approval for custody or exchange does not automatically cover P2P services or cross-border payments.
Non-issuance service providers must hold another NGN1 billion (approximately $741,000) in capital. A platform regulated by the SEC cannot count the same funds towards both regulators' requirements.
The CBN may also require specific approval for conversions between naira and foreign-currency stablecoins, with transactions reported and routed through an authorised foreign-exchange channel. The rules arrive as Nigerians use crypto beyond speculative trading: Finance Magnates reported Chainalysis estimates of $38.1 billion in Nigerian crypto activity between July 2025 and June 2026, compared with South Africa's $39.3 billion. Nigeria ranked third in the firm's global grassroots adoption index. Stablecoin activity through peer-to-peer channels rose more than sixfold between 2022 and 2026, from $2.3 billion to $14.6 billion.
- Existing operators must register within 30 days and start supervisory reporting within 60 days.
- They have 180 days to apply and can operate only at their current scale during the transition.
- Payment service providers need separate CBN authorisation and additional capital; funds cannot be counted twice for SEC and CBN requirements.
What this means on the desk
For operators, the work is to map each product function to its permission, rather than treat a stablecoin listing or custody approval as covering the full customer journey. Teams should check which legal entity issues or distributes each token, where redemption liquidity sits, and whether payment, transfer and conversion flows have the required approvals.
The source does not specify the supervisory reporting format, the detailed process for token approval or how foreign-exchange routing will work in each case. Those are points to clarify while planning the registration and application timetable. Firms also need to establish how they will demonstrate separate capital for the relevant permissions without relying on the same funds for both regulators.
