Nigeria’s SEC Considers Tokenized Equity, Property, Not Crypto
Nigeria's SEC Considers Tokenized Equity, Property, But Not Crypto: Bloomberg
Bloomberg reported on Monday that Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission is contemplating permitting tokenized coin offers backed by equities, debt, or property on regulated digital asset exchanges. However, the tokenized coin offerings would not be allowed to be backed by cryptocurrency.
We always like to start, as a regulator, with a very simple clear proposal before we go into the complex ones,
Abdulkadir Abbas, head of securities and investment services at the commission located in Abuja, was reportedly quoted as saying.
We always like to start with a very simple, clear proposal before we go into the complex ones.
The regulator is also evaluating applications for digital exchanges on a trial basis in the hopes that these exchanges will go through one year of “regulatory incubation“, during which time they will only be able to provide a restricted number of services and will be monitored by the SEC to assess whether or not they are fit to supply services.
Abbas told Bloomberg that by the tenth month, they should be able to decide whether or not to register the company, whether or not to prolong the incubation period, or even whether or not to order the company to cease operations.
According to the article, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will begin licensing digital asset exchanges once it agrees with the nation’s central bank. This is because the central bank has prevented local financial institutions from associating with companies that offer crypto services. Nigeria was one of the countries in the area with the quickest adoption of cryptocurrencies until its central bank increased the restrictions it imposed on them.
Despite the opposition of the central bank, efforts have been made to include cryptocurrencies within the scope of existing legislation. A new bill that might recognize cryptocurrencies as investment capital is now being drafted.
