Nigeria’s SEC has signaled that it would encourage the investment in “sensible digital assets,” ensuring investment protection, and also explore blockchain technology to enhance both virtual and conventional investment options.
- Lamido Yuguda, the director-general of the Nigeria’s SEC, told reporters on Friday in Lagos that the commission was staying away from cryptocurrencies because crypto exchanges do not yet have access to the financial infrastructure required to power their trades in Nigeria.
- “We are looking at digital assets that really protect investors,” not necessarily crypto, Yuguda told recently told Bloomberg.
- In response to concerns about cryptocurrency volatility, he said, “The commission is in the business of protecting investors, not in the business of speculation.”
- With a goal of developing trading in 50 digital assets by 2025, the SEC is concentrating on digital assets that protect investors.
- The guidelines that SEC released in May mandates the registration of “the offering and sale of digital tokens that are considered securities”. The guidelines shall apply to all issuers seeking to raise capital through digital asset offerings.
- According to the guidelines in the regulation, digital asset players include digital asset offering platforms (DAOPs), digital asset custodians (DACs), virtual assets service providers (VASPs), and digital assets exchange (DAX).
- The SEC said it would review applications within 30 days before determining whether the digital asset proposed to be offered constitutes a “security.”
- Cryptocurrencies won’t be a part of SEC’s proposal to enhance trading in digital assets until regulators come to an agreement on criteria that safeguard investors.
- The commission is avoiding the digital currency as crypto exchanges do not have access to the banking platform that is needed to drive their trades in Nigeria yet, Director-General Lamido Yuguda told reporters in Lagos, the nation’s commercial hub.
- The Securities and Exchange Commission oversees the Nigerian capital market as a whole. The Federal Ministry of Finance is in charge of overseeing it.
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