According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), new rules for the licensing, registration, and background checks of companies that provide digital and virtual asset services (VASPs) have been devised.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) defines VASPs as organizations that handle transfers of virtual assets as well as swaps of virtual assets (cryptocurrencies) for fiat money.
The SEC stated that the additional steps will guarantee that “criminals are not registered as operators” in the stock market in a notice obtained by The Cable on March 4, 2024. On December 22, 2023, the CBN lifted the prohibition on cryptocurrency transactions within the nation and sent operating guidelines to all banks and other financial institutions (OFIs) regarding virtual assets service providers (VASPs).
Drawing from the SEC circular, the new guidelines will supplement the current norms and regulations.
The circular states that the Commission “released its treatment and classification of digital assets in September 2020, where it specified its regulatory purview over three types of tokens: security tokens with features resembling securities and funds, utility tokens traded on a recognized exchange, and derivatives of these three types of tokens.”
Digital asset offering platforms (DAOPs), digital asset exchanges (DAX), digital asset custodians (DACs), and basic standards for VASPs are among the rules that the SEC previously released in May 2022.