Nigeria’s SEC Director-General Emomotimi Agama cautioned that VASP license applicants failing to meet requirements will face rejection but promised continued guidance.
Emotimi Agama, Director-General of the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said that some people who want to get a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license do not meet the standards set by the SEC and will have their applications turned down.
But Agama told applicants at a meeting that the commission would keep making things clear on tricky issues to help with the registration process.
Nigeria’s SEC to Tighten Crypto Regulation
Agama’s warning comes after the SEC gave out its first licenses under the Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Program (ARIP) a few months ago. Crypto companies Busha Digital and Quidax Technologies from Nigeria were the first to be given permission to do business in the West African country, according to a story from Bitcoin.com News in August 2024.
Agama says that the process of registering VASPs is more than just onboarding. It also includes education, monitoring, and surveillance. Still, the director general said that his group is willing to hear what other people have to say and may change the rules if good reasons are given.
“In the coming year, we will move faster in delivery and announcements, having learnt from this process. A new law has been passed and it is in the process of obtaining Presidential assent,” Agama said.
Nigeria has one of the biggest cryptocurrency markets in the world, but the country doesn’t have any laws or rules that are specific to cryptocurrencies. In fact, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which was led by Godwin Emefiele before Agama was hired, was in charge of most of Nigeria’s crypto policy.
But since Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government changed who was in charge of both the SEC and the CBN, it looks like the SEC is now in charge of regulating crypto. “The Commission’s goal now is to make sure that Nigeria stands out as not only one of the biggest crypto markets but also one that is well regulated,” Agama said.
