President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed the Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026, introducing a new framework to regulate Nigeria’s virtual assets industry and strengthen oversight of the country’s fast-growing digital economy.
The Executive Order, which takes immediate effect, establishes a Virtual Asset Council to coordinate the activities of key financial, security, revenue and regulatory agencies, with the aim of tackling fraud, money laundering, terrorism financing and tax leakages while promoting responsible innovation in the sector.
The development was announced in a statement issued on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who said the Order was signed pursuant to Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution to address increasing regulatory fragmentation as virtual assets continue to cut across currencies, securities, commodities and payment systems.
According to the Presidency, the absence of a coordinated regulatory framework had created loopholes exploited by fraudulent and unregistered operators, exposing Nigerians to financial losses, cyber threats, data privacy risks and other criminal activities.
To address the challenge, the Executive Order establishes a Virtual Asset Council, which will be chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), while the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will serve 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 will provide policy direction, strengthen collaboration among participating agencies and work with the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation to develop a harmonised legal and institutional framework for the virtual assets sector in line with Nigeria’s economic, security and social objectives.
The Executive Order also creates a Virtual Asset Office as the operational arm of the Council, with its secretariat to be domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to the Presidency, the office will coordinate information sharing, applications and regulatory reporting through an integrated supervisory technology platform while allowing participating agencies to retain ownership and control of their respective data.
The Federal Government stressed that the Executive Order does not create a new regulator or strip existing agencies of their statutory responsibilities.
Instead, regulatory authority will continue to depend on the nature of the asset or activity involved. Under the framework, virtual assets classified as securities will remain under the jurisdiction of the SEC, while payment, settlement, custody and other non-security virtual asset services will continue to be regulated by the CBN. Where jurisdiction is unclear, the Council will determine the appropriate regulator.
The Federal Government said the framework is intended to eliminate regulatory gaps that previously enabled unregistered operators to evade supervision.
As part of the new regime, the Central Bank of Nigeria will introduce a regulatory sandbox, allowing eligible operators to test virtual asset products, blockchain technologies and related services in a controlled environment under regulatory supervision before they are introduced into the wider market.
According to the statement, the sandbox will enable regulators to evaluate the impact of emerging technologies on monetary sovereignty, financial stability, consumer protection, market integrity, financial inclusion and revenue administration. The CBN is expected to issue operational guidelines for the initiative.
The Nigeria Revenue Service is also expected to introduce a dedicated tax policy for the virtual assets industry to clarify the application of existing tax laws to digital assets, improve voluntary compliance and ensure the sector contributes fairly to government revenue.
In addition, the Federal Government disclosed that work is at an advanced stage on a comprehensive Virtual Assets White Paper, which will outline Nigeria’s long-term policy direction, implementation priorities and roadmap for stakeholders in the industry.
President Tinubu also directed the newly established Virtual Asset Council to produce a Harmonised Implementation Framework within 30 days to guide participating agencies and ensure the swift implementation of the Executive Order.
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