A new set of standards for the nation’s virtual asset service providers and digital asset operators is about to be released, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC stated that “The new rules will guarantee that criminals do not enter the nation’s capital market according to The Cable.
The Federal Government had accused the cryptocurrency exchange Binance of manipulating the value of the naira through speculative activity on its site and on Tuesday, Binance announced that it was ending naira services on its platform in response to these disputes.
“The SEC has also developed new AML/CFT/CPF AML/CFT/CPF onboarding manual for licensing/registration and on-going screening of Digital and VASP Beneficial Owners to ensure that criminals are not registered as operators in the capital market,” stated a portion of the notification issued by the SEC on March 4.
With these precise guidelines in place, the SEC is prepared to work with legitimate VASPs.
The SEC further stated that “Revisions to its regulations were being made in response to discussions with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“That will shortly be made available to the public for feedback prior to final approval. The relevant SEC Rules and Regulations pertaining to the regulation of VASPs and digital assets have been compiled for the public’s and prospective applicants’ convenience,” the statement said.
In December 2023, the CBN removed the restriction on cryptocurrency transactions in the nation and sent operating instructions to all banks and other financial institutions about virtual asset service providers.
The commission stated its regulatory jurisdiction over cryptocurrency tokens traded on recognized exchanges, utility tokens traded on recognized exchanges, security tokens with features resembling securities and derivatives of those three types of tokens in its September 2020 release on the treatment and classification of digital assets.
Regulations on general requirements for virtual asset service providers, issuing of digital assets as securities, platforms for offering digital assets, exchanges for exchanging digital assets, and custodians of digital assets were released by the SEC in May 2022.
Regulations against money laundering were modified by the commission in May 2022 and April 2023.
Procedures for enforcing specific financial sanctions against terrorist people and organizations were also released in April 2023.
The goal of each of these actions was to clean up the nation’s digital asset area.
