The Senate Committee on Capital Market on Friday referred to as on the Federal Authorities to control and formalise cryptocurrency buying and selling in the nation to guard buyers and faucet into Nigeria’s booming digital asset economic system.
Talking throughout a media parley in Abuja, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Osita Izunaso, underscored the urgency of embracing digital finance, warning that continued inaction may price Nigeria billions in potential income and world relevance.
“Nigeria is ranked second globally in cryptocurrency utilization. Our younger women and men are thriving in the house, but the funds are flowing overseas as a result of we have now refused to control the sector.
“The Central Financial institution initially rejected crypto, however how do you ignore one thing that’s already working independently?”
Between July 2023 and June 2024, Nigeria reportedly obtained about $59 billion in crypto transactions—underscoring its standing as a pacesetter in digital finance adoption, pushed largely by financial hardship and the necessity for inflation hedging.
Izunaso warned that and not using a correct regulatory framework, the nation dangers being sidelined in the worldwide crypto economic system, whereas its residents proceed to have interaction in unregulated digital trades.
“If we regulate it, the cash comes residence. If we don’t, the blockchain doesn’t want us—they are going to hold working anyway,” he added.
The lawmaker, who represents Imo West Senatorial District, additionally issued a stern warning to Nigerians to avoid Ponzi schemes, describing them as fraudulent traps that “at all times finish in tears.”
He revealed that the not too long ago signed Funding and Securities Act 2025, which he sponsored and was assented to by President Bola Tinubu two months in the past, has launched sweeping reforms to Nigeria’s capital market.
The brand new regulation, he stated, not solely offers a authorized basis for digital belongings like cryptocurrency but in addition prescribes extreme penalties for monetary crimes, together with a 20-year jail time period for Ponzi operators.
“That Act is now the omnibus laws for capital markets and investments,” he defined.
“Due to this regulation, cryptocurrency has been legalised and is now beneath the regulatory purview of the Securities and Trade Fee. Digital belongings at the moment are formally recognised devices in Nigeria’s monetary ecosystem.”
Izunaso described the regulation as a game-changer that helps at the very least 4 pillars of President Tinubu’s financial agenda, together with the purpose of constructing a $1 trillion economic system.
“You can’t obtain a trillion-dollar economic system and not using a sturdy capital market. That’s the place the cash will come from. Till now, Nigeria operated solely with the cash market led by the CBN. Even the CBN’s e-Naira initiative struggled as a result of it lacked the capital market’s structural assist.”
He additional hinted that plans are underway to publicly unveil the total provisions of the brand new Act, noting that many Nigerians are nonetheless unaware of the far-reaching adjustments it introduces.
“This isn’t the SEC you used to know,” he stated. “This regulation has revolutionised it, and it’s excessive time the general public understands the brand new alternatives and protections now obtainable to them.”
With crypto adoption hovering and the dangers of unregulated markets changing into more and more evident, the senator expressed a powerful conviction that regulation is now not elective—it’s inevitable.
