President Bola Tinubu has signed the Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026, aimed at strengthening the regulation of virtual assets and improving coordination among key financial and regulatory agencies.
The directive, which takes immediate effect, was announced on Friday in a statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
According to the Presidency, the Executive Order is designed to harmonise oversight of the rapidly growing virtual assets sector, close regulatory gaps and protect Nigerians from fraud while encouraging responsible innovation.
The government said the increasing overlap between virtual assets, currencies, commodities and securities had exposed weaknesses in the existing regulatory framework, creating opportunities for money laundering, terrorism financing, cybercrime, data privacy breaches and financial fraud.
To address these challenges, the 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-chairpersons. Other members 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 the agencies and work with the Attorney-General of the Federation to develop a harmonised legal and institutional framework for the sector.
The Executive Order also creates a Virtual Asset Office, which will serve as the council’s operational arm. The office, to be headquartered at the CBN, will coordinate information sharing, licensing applications and regulatory reporting through an integrated supervisory technology platform.
The Presidency clarified that the order does not create a new regulator or remove the statutory powers of existing agencies. Instead, each institution will retain its current responsibilities while working under a coordinated framework.
Under the arrangement, virtual asset activities classified as securities will remain under the supervision of the SEC, while payment, settlement, custody and other non-security virtual asset services will be regulated by the CBN. The council will resolve cases where regulatory responsibility is unclear.
As part of the reforms, the CBN will also establish a regulatory sandbox to allow approved operators to test virtual asset products and blockchain-based services in a controlled environment before they are introduced to the wider market.
In addition, the Nigeria Revenue Service is expected to release a tax policy for the virtual assets sector to provide clarity on tax obligations, improve compliance and ensure the industry contributes to government revenue.
The Federal Government also disclosed that it is finalising a comprehensive Virtual Assets White Paper to outline Nigeria’s long-term policy direction for the sector.
The newly established council has been directed to develop a harmonised implementation framework within 30 days to facilitate the effective implementation of the Executive Order.
