🇳🇬 Crypto licence in Nigeria

The regime

The Investments and Securities Act 2025, signed March 2025, recognised digital assets as securities and put exchanges and VASPs under SEC Nigeria licensing — formalising the regime piloted through the SEC's Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme, under which Busha and Quidax took the first provisional licences in August 2024.

Nigeria is Africa's largest crypto market and one of the world's biggest P2P markets, a reality regulators shifted toward licensing after years of banking bans (the CBN lifted its account prohibition in December 2023).

Requirements

• SEC licensing under ISA 2025 / the digital-asset rules: VASP, exchange or custodian categories with prescribed minimum paid-up capital (₦-denominated, category-dependent).
• Local incorporation and resident compliance officers; fit-and-proper checks on directors and significant shareholders.
• Custody and segregation of customer assets, plus AML/CFT compliance with NFIU reporting.
• Incubation route: the ARIP programme remains the SEC's onboarding channel from provisional to full licence.

Licensed firms

SEC-licensed platforms:

• Busha — first provisional licence cohort, August 2024
• Quidax — first provisional licence cohort, August 2024

Snapshot, not the register: verify current status against SEC Nigeria before relying on it.

Is crypto legal in Nigeria?

Yes. The CBN banking ban was lifted in December 2023, and ISA 2025 made digital assets securities under SEC oversight — exchanges now operate under SEC licences rather than in the grey zone that built Nigeria's huge P2P market.

How does a platform get licensed in Nigeria?

Through SEC Nigeria — historically via the Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme, moving from provisional approval to full licensing with capital, custody and AML requirements.