The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced sweeping rules for non-security virtual assets in its November 2026 regulations, imposing a hard Bank Verification Number (BVN) match before peer-to-peer platforms may release or credit regulated tokens, and setting a N15 billion paid-up capital floor for foreign-currency stablecoin issuers.
Under Section 10.3.3, a platform-facilitated P2P provider may not release or credit a Regulated Token—including Class 1 and Class 2 stablecoins—until the naira account name and BVN match the verified customer. Section 10.2 confirms there is no standalone P2P licence; operators must hold an Other Services Licence, Other Services Authorisation, or an approval extension under Section 9, with P2P explicitly named. Customer due diligence, transaction-to-account linkage, and a ban on nominee, mule, third-party, fake, or wrong-name accounts are also required under Sections 10.3.1, 10.3.2 and 10.3.4. High-volume or advertised P2P sellers are treated as business users with stronger checks, trade limits, and reporting duties.
On the issuer side, Section 15.2 requires Class 2 foreign-currency stablecoin issuers to maintain at least N15,000,000,000 in paid-up capital at all times. Class 1 naira-based issuers face a N10 billion floor, while other non-security virtual-asset service firms face N1 billion. Foreign issuers cannot bypass the regime: Section 6.5 requires a Nigerian company and Token Approval, meaning widely used dollar tokens such as USDT and USDC must be distributed through a locally licensed Class 2 issuer. Section 24 mandates a fully backed Reserve Pool, an extra 2% reserve buffer, and next-business-day face-value redemption, with a maximum five-business-day window in a stress event. Algorithmic stablecoins and tokens without firm face-value redemption rights are banned.
Existing operators have 180 calendar days from the start date to apply for the correct licence, must register within 30 days, and face AML duties from day one. Interim scale limits apply until approvals are complete. The framework does not ban USDT or USDC by ticker, but shifts Nigerian distribution, custody, exchange, and redemption onto a regulated local path, raising the cost and compliance burden for stablecoin access in one of Africa’s largest crypto markets.
