Tinubu Executive Order Creates New Council to Coordinate Nigeria Crypto Oversight

Immediate order and stated aims

According to the source report, the order is meant to protect citizens from fraud, curb money laundering and prevent terrorism financing. At the same time, it is framed as a way to improve coordination without creating unnecessary bureaucracy or removing the authority already held by existing financial agencies.

Rather than setting up an entirely new regulator, the decree keeps current institutions in place and reorganizes how they work together. Its focus is on harmonizing supervision across a sector where responsibilities had been spread across multiple bodies.

New council under central bank leadership

At the center of the new arrangement is a Virtual Asset Council, which will act as the main policymaking and coordinating body. The Central Bank of Nigeria will chair the council, while the Nigeria Revenue Service and the Nigeria Securities and Exchange Commission will serve as vice chairs.

Other members will include representatives from the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit and the Office of the National Security Adviser. A separate Virtual Asset Office, to be housed within the central bank, will manage daily operations and support information-sharing among agencies through a shared integrated technology platform.

Split oversight by asset type

The executive order does not remove the existing duties of financial authorities. Instead, it divides registration and oversight according to the nature of the activity or asset involved.

Financial activities linked to securities will remain under the Nigeria Securities and Exchange Commission. Payments, settlements and custody services involving non-security virtual assets will be overseen by the central bank. In practice, this creates a split model in which supervision depends on how a virtual asset is classified and used.

Next steps: sandbox, tax policy and rollout plan

The order is accompanied by additional policy steps. The central bank plans to launch a regulatory sandbox so eligible operators can test virtual-asset products and blockchain-based solutions under close supervision before wider release. Separately, the Nigeria Revenue Service plans to introduce a dedicated tax policy for the sector, with the stated goal of improving voluntary compliance.

The new Virtual Asset Council has 30 days to put in place a framework for implementing the executive order. The government is also said to be finalizing a broader Virtual Assets White Paper that will set out its longer-term approach to the sector.

The move suggests Nigeria is trying to bring together enforcement, market supervision, tax administration and national-security oversight within one coordinated structure, while still leaving core powers with existing institutions. How the framework works in practice will depend on the rollout plan the council delivers in the coming month.