Nigeria Establishes Virtual Asset Regulatory Council to Oversee Digital Asset Market

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has established the Virtual Asset Regulatory Council (VARC) to oversee the country's digital asset market, a local report shows. Under the new framework, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Revenue Service will jointly supervise nonsecurity virtual assets through the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority, while the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission will continue to oversee security tokens. The regime requires domestic and offshore platforms to register and comply with know-your-customer and cybersecurity requirements in exchange for formal recognition, banking access and eligibility for regulated partnerships. Analyst Rume Ophi described the move as one of Nigeria's most structured crypto regulations, aligned with Tinubu's 2023 pledge to support prudent blockchain and crypto asset use.