Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission, has admitted seven virtual asset firms into its Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme, a regulatory sandbox for digital asset operators.
Confirmed by the Virtual Asset Service Providers Association (VASPA), the newly admitted entities are;
- Bitbarter Technologies Limited,
- Luno Fintech Nigeria Limited,
- GetEquity Limited,
- Koinkoin Global Network Limited,
- Wrapped CBDC Ltd,
- Trovotech Ltd, and
- Blockvault Custodian Ltd.
The ARIP framework, run by the SEC under Director-General Emomotimi Agama, allows digital asset firms to pilot operations under regulatory supervision before securing full capital market operator licences.
Admission typically follows an Approval-in-Principle (AIP) stage requiring firms to meet compliance and legal-structuring benchmarks set by the commission.
VASPA, a Pan-African industry association for virtual asset service providers, welcomed the admissions and credited the SEC with favouring a sandbox-based approach over enforcement-led regulation of the sector.
The association also called on the SEC to make three changes to strengthen the programme: setting clear timelines for how long firms remain in the sandbox before graduating to full licences; restoring upfront public classification of which activities each admitted firm is permitted to test, such as custody, exchange or digital investment platform services; and issuing clearer guidance on how existing securities tests apply to tokenised instruments and real-world assets.
VASPA said it is seeking closer engagement with the SEC, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, and National Assembly committees examining cryptocurrency and point-of-sale regulation, to help shape future iterations of the framework.
Neither the SEC nor the named sandbox entrants have independently confirmed the admissions as of this report; the sole source is VASPA’s statement.
