Nigeria has the most regulated digital asset space in Africa — Executive Commissioner, SEC
The Executive Commissioner, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dayo Obisan has said that Nigeria is leading amongst countries making the rules and regulating the digital asset space in Africa.
He said this during the Nairametrics Economic Outlook webinar on the theme: ‘Resetting Nigeria’s economic growth trajectory.’
According to him, the SEC is working to regulate the digital space as well as make it viable for the operator and protect investors that are going there.
He pointed out that for SEC, it is not about the stakes but practicability, implementability and reality which matters. He further stated, “The reality is that fintechs are here. Months ago, we still released additional rules on crypto. Nigeria is leading in Africa in terms of making the rules and regulating into the digital asset space. Worldwide, we are one of those acknowledged to be looking keenly into that space.
“Recently, the US has just released its own rule for digital asssets and this is something we are trying to catch up on so that we can regulate that space, make it viable for the operator and protect investors that are going there.”
While a lot of people confuse the function of the CBN to SEC with regards to cryptocurrency regulation, Dayo explained the SEC comes into the picture when crypto is used as investment.
He said, “The regulatory space is evolving. Even after we came up with our classification of digital assets. You know there is this fungibility in the use of the language, crypto assets and cryptocurrency, so it depends on the usage. When anything is a fiat , fiat is money ,we use it as a means of exchange, that is an exclusive precedence from the Central Bank of Nigeria. But when it is used as an investment tool, then it falls squarely on our lap.
Speaking on how the SEC has been creating a thriving space for fintechs, he said “It was really on the news in Dec 2020 and Jan 2021 when one of the fintechs that was marketing capital market instrument took the operator to the IST, investment and security tribunal, the business was stopped from doing that. What we have now done in advance, is to create an avenue such that, if you want to operate, you operate within these rooms.”
Recall that SEC recently released new rules for Digital Assets as part of its effort to regulate digital/virtual assets such as Bitcoins and NFTs.
The rules apply to all platforms that support the trading, exchange, and transfer of virtual assets, all issuers and sponsors of virtual/digital assets, including international and non-residential issuers and sponsors and any operator that aggressively targets Nigerian investors.
