President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed the Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026, establishing a new framework to harmonise the regulation of digital assets, strengthen inter-agency collaboration and protect Nigerians from fraud while promoting responsible innovation in the country’s digital economy.
The Executive Order, signed pursuant to Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), takes immediate effect and seeks to address regulatory gaps created by the rapid evolution of virtual assets, which increasingly cut across the traditional boundaries of currencies, commodities, securities and payment systems.
According to a State House statement issued on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Order responds to a fragmented regulatory environment where agencies have operated independently, resulting in overlaps, enforcement gaps and vulnerabilities that have exposed the financial system to money laundering, terrorism financing, cybercrime, data privacy breaches, fraud and revenue losses.
The Presidency noted that fraudulent and unregistered operators have exploited these regulatory loopholes to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians, causing significant financial losses to individuals and families.
To strengthen oversight without creating additional regulatory bureaucracy, 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-chairmen.
Other members of the Council include the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The Council is expected to provide strategic policy direction, promote coordination among relevant agencies and collaborate with the Attorney-General of the Federation in developing a harmonised legal and institutional framework that aligns virtual asset regulation with Nigeria’s economic, social and national security objectives.
The Executive Order also establishes a Virtual Asset Office, which will serve as the Council’s operational secretariat and will be domiciled at the CBN. The office will coordinate information sharing, licensing applications and regulatory reporting through an integrated supervisory technology platform that enables collaboration while preserving each agency’s statutory authority over its data.
The Presidency emphasised that the Executive Order does not create a new regulator or transfer existing statutory powers among agencies. Instead, it provides a coordinated framework under which each institution retains its constitutional and legal responsibilities.
Under the new arrangement, virtual asset operators will be regulated based on the nature of their activities. Products and services classified as securities will fall under the jurisdiction of the SEC, while payment, settlement, custody and other non-security virtual asset services will be supervised by the CBN. The Council will resolve any jurisdictional disputes where regulatory responsibility is unclear.
As part of the implementation framework, the CBN will launch a Virtual Assets Regulatory Sandbox, providing a controlled environment for eligible operators to test blockchain-based products and virtual asset services under close regulatory supervision.
The sandbox is expected to enable regulators to assess the impact of emerging technologies on monetary policy, financial stability, market integrity, consumer protection, financial inclusion and revenue generation before such products are introduced into the wider market.
The Central Bank is expected to announce further operational guidelines for the sandbox.
Similarly, the Nigeria Revenue Service will issue a dedicated tax policy for the virtual assets sector to clarify the application of Nigeria’s tax laws to digital asset transactions, encourage voluntary compliance and ensure the growing sector contributes fairly to national revenue.
The Federal Government also disclosed that it is finalising a comprehensive Virtual Assets White Paper, which will outline Nigeria’s long-term policy direction and implementation priorities for the digital asset ecosystem.
President Tinubu has directed the newly established Virtual Asset Council to produce a Harmonised Implementation Framework within 30 days to guide participating agencies and ensure the swift and effective implementation of the Executive Order.
