Last year, Nigeria’s central bank banned banks and financial institutions from processing or facilitating transactions in digital currencies.
But the country’s young, tech-savvy population has eagerly embraced cryptocurrency, for example using peer-to-peer exchanges offered by cryptocurrency exchanges to avoid financial industry bans.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria has published on its website the “New Rules on the Issuance, Offering Platforms and Custody of Digital Assets”.
The 54-page document sets out registration requirements for digital asset offerings and custodians, and classifies the assets as SEC-regulated securities.
A central bank spokesman did not respond to calls on his mobile phone.
The SEC said no digital asset exchange would be allowed to facilitate trading in the assets unless it received a “no objection” ruling from the commission.
A digital asset exchange will have to pay 30 million naira ($72,289) as registration fees, among other fees.
In October, Nigeria launched a digital currency, eNaira, in hopes of expanding access to banking services. Official digital currencies, unlike cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, are backed and controlled by the central bank.