Nigeria's President Tinubu Signs Executive Order to Coordinate Crypto Regulation and Tax Rules

Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed an executive order designed to reduce what the government calls fragmentation in the oversight of digital asset activities across multiple agencies. In comments delivered by presidential adviser Bayo Onanuga, the move is positioned as a coordination framework rather than a major reshuffle of statutory authority. Onanuga said the order aims to "harmonize the regulation of virtual assets," strengthen cooperation among financial, revenue, and capital markets bodies, protect the public from fraud, and support "responsible innovation." The directive also establishes a virtual asset council to guide policy work, and instructs the Nigerian Revenue Service to update its approach to taxing digital asset activity. Key points • The executive order prioritizes harmonization and inter-agency coordination, not the creation of a new regulator. • A virtual asset council will bring senior regulators under a single policy-direction structure. • The Nigerian Revenue Service is expected to publish updated guidance on digital asset taxation. • Registration expectations will be set based on the type of activity and the asset involved, with the stated goal of closing oversight gaps for unregistered operators. Executive order targets regulatory fragmentation Onanuga said the order does not create a new regulator or transfer legal powers between existing institutions. The intent, he said, is to align agencies' current mandates while preserving their independence. The government's view is that oversight has been insufficiently unified, leaving room for some operators to fall outside clear regulatory scrutiny. Under the new framework, registration requirements will depend on the "nature of the activity and the asset involved," a design intended to close gaps that previously allowed unregistered actors to avoid oversight. For market participants, the distinction matters. Without a single consolidated authority, compliance obligations can remain spread across agencies. Clearer harmonization, though, can reduce uncertainty over which body is responsible for onboarding standards, reporting, and enforcement. Virtual asset council to align regulators under one policy umbrella The executive order also sets up a virtual asset council led by senior figures from Nigeria's financial regulators. While the council is framed as a policy-direction mechanism rather than a replacement for existing statutory roles, it formalizes coordination among oversight bodies. That structure could influence how rules evolve, particularly if the council is used to reconcile differing interpretations of responsibilities among financial regulators, revenue authorities, and capital markets agencies. Nigeria's scale of crypto activity heightens the stakes Coordination may be especially relevant given Nigeria's role in African crypto markets. The government messaging cited an IMF report describing Nigeria as a major hub for stablecoin and broader crypto activity. In a June report referenced in the coverage, the International Monetary Fund said Nigeria represented about 60% of stablecoin inflows into sub-Saharan Africa since 2019. The IMF also estimated roughly $59 billion in crypto inflows to Nigeria between July 2023 and June 2024. Those figures reinforce why regulatory clarity in Nigeria can have broader implications for local providers and cross-border businesses, including payment-linked use cases. The IMF said policymakers face the task of reducing cross-border "workaround" incentives while containing emerging risks, and it argued for a clear strategy that remains open to innovation but anchored in strong macroeconomic policy and effective regulation. Tax authority directed to tighten digital asset compliance The executive order instructs the Nigerian Revenue Service to update its digital asset tax policies, building on measures already signaled by authorities. The report noted that officials in January said crypto service providers would be required, under the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, to link transactions to tax identification numbers and, in some cases, national identification numbers. Further details from the Revenue Service are expected to clarify practical impacts on taxpayers. For businesses, the direction toward ID-linked transactions points to stricter compliance expectations that could reshape onboarding, recordkeeping, and reporting processes. Because tax rules often intersect with financial regulation and registration requirements, the updated guidance could become a central pillar of Nigeria's broader digital asset compliance regime. What to watch Investors, exchanges, and service providers will be tracking how the virtual asset council turns coordination into concrete, activity-specific registration rules, and how quickly the Nigerian Revenue Service operationalizes tax ID linkage. The key questions center on the rollout timeline for harmonized guidance across agencies and the standards that will be used to determine registration obligations by asset type and business activity. This article was originally published as Nigerian President Signs Order on Crypto Oversight and Taxation on Crypto Breaking News.