Nigeria's CBN sets N1B capital bar and 180-day deadline for crypto firms

Nigeria's central bank just drew a hard line in the crypto sand. The Central Bank of Nigeria issued sweeping new rules on Thursday giving existing virtual asset service providers 180 days to file complete licence applications — or stop operating until they get one. The regulations took effect the same day.

The clock runs in stages. Operators must register with the CBN within 30 days, start filing supervisory reports within 60 days, and hand in full licence applications within 180 days. Existing providers can keep serving customers during the transition, but only at their current scale and only under conditions the bank sets. Miss the deadline, and the rules are blunt: operations cease until approval lands.

Then comes the money. Under Section 16.1, anyone holding an Other Services Licence, Other Services Authorisation or Approval to Extend Permitted Activities must maintain minimum paid-up capital of N1 billion on entry and at all times afterward — or whatever higher figure the CBN decides later. For firms already licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, that N1 billion stacks on top of the SEC's own capital requirement, and the CBN explicitly bans counting the same naira twice. Banks and payment players angling to offer covered virtual asset services face the same add-on, separate from capital already tied to their main licences.

Stablecoin issuers face steeper numbers. Naira-referenced issuers — Class 1 — need paid-up capital of at least N10 billion. Foreign-currency-referenced issuers — Class 2 — need at least N15 billion. Both must also meet extra capital deposit rules and hold eligible reserve assets backing every token in circulation, plus enough to honor redemptions. The CBN says the point is to blunt the risk of reserve shortfalls and issuers who can't pay customers back.

Foreign players aren't off the hook either. The framework reaches overseas virtual asset businesses serving Nigerians even with no physical footprint in the country. Foreign-currency stablecoins can only be offered, custodied, exchanged or redeemed through Nigerian-incorporated entities holding a Foreign Currency Issuer Licence and approved as Class 2 — and a licence from a foreign regulator doesn't substitute. Existing foreign-currency stablecoin arrangements now get assessed against the new incorporation and licensing rules, with continued market access hinging on express interim CBN permission. Platform-facilitated peer-to-peer operators must also apply for approval inside the transition window.

Oversight gets split down the middle. The CBN takes non-security virtual assets plus the payment, settlement, remittance, foreign exchange and banking activity around them, while the SEC keeps virtual assets classed as securities and capital market products. The rules ride on the CBN Act 2007, the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020 and the Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026. Anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and counter-proliferation financing duties kick in from day one.