SEC proposes ₦30m fee, ₦2bn capital for crypto operators

The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed a ₦30 million registration fee and a minimum capital requirement of up to ₦2 billion for digital asset operators in Nigeria.

The proposals are contained in SEC’s draft rules on “Digital and virtual asset operations, custody and markets”, released on August 20.

Under the proposed framework, digital asset exchanges, digital asset custodians, digital asset platform operators, digital asset offering platforms and real-world asset tokenisation platforms would each pay a ₦30 million registration fee.

The commission also proposed different minimum capital requirements for operators. Digital asset exchanges and custodians would require ₦2 billion each, while digital asset platform operators, digital asset offering platforms and real-world asset tokenisation platforms would require ₦500 million each.

Virtual asset service providers would require a minimum capital of ₦200 million, in addition to a ₦100,000 processing fee and ₦300,000 application fee.

SEC also proposed that regulated entities maintain a fidelity insurance bond covering at least 25 per cent of their minimum paid-up capital.

For companies seeking to operate under the Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme, the commission proposed a ₦200,000 initial assessment fee and a ₦2 million application fee.