KEY POINTS
- Nigeria recorded approximately $96 billion in cryptocurrency and virtual asset transactions.
- The Investment and Securities Act 2025 gives SEC new powers to regulate digital assets.
- Total Nigerian capital market capitalisation has risen from N55 trillion to roughly N127 trillion.
Nigeria’s capital market regulator put a number on the country’s digital finance activity Monday that underscores just how large and ungoverned the crypto space has grown: approximately $96 billion in cryptocurrency and virtual asset transactions, flowing largely outside the formal regulatory perimeter.
The Nigeria crypto transactions SEC disclosure came from Director-General Emomotimi Agama at a Citizens and Stakeholders Engagement Session organised by the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja. Agama used the figure to make the case for tighter oversight, arguing that a market operating at that scale demands serious regulatory attention. “It is a known fact from research and statistics that the virtual asset service providers and indeed the digital space, cryptocurrency operation is within the range of $96 billion in transaction flow in Nigeria, and that is important for us to manage,” he said.
Capital market posts strong growth numbers
The Investment and Securities Act 2025, recently enacted, gives the SEC formal powers to regulate digital assets and other emerging financial technologies. Agama said the legislation also reaffirmed the commission’s role as the apex regulator of the Nigerian capital market and introduced provisions to monitor systemic risks while aligning the country’s market operations with international standards.
Beyond the Nigeria crypto transactions SEC focus, Agama offered a broader picture of the capital market’s performance. Total market capitalisation has climbed from about N55 trillion in 2024 to roughly N127 trillion currently, and the ratio of market capitalisation to GDP has risen from approximately 13 percent to around 33 percent. The commission approved about N3.68 trillion in new capital market issues in 2024 across equity and fixed income instruments, and more than 31 banks raised capital through the market to meet CBN recapitalisation requirements.
Agama said the SEC had issued more than 90 advisory notices warning Nigerians about suspicious investment schemes and had stepped up prosecutions of Ponzi scheme operators in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force. He advised investors to verify that any investment opportunity carries SEC approval before committing funds.
Budget pressures acknowledged
The Finance Ministry’s Permanent Secretary also addressed the session, acknowledging that budget performance had fallen short due to Nigeria’s difficulty meeting its oil production benchmark of 2.1 million barrels per day and a period when global crude prices dipped below the $75 per barrel budget assumption. Rising debt servicing costs and expanded salary obligations added further pressure.
The Permanent Secretary said the ministry now holds weekly Monday cash management meetings to track revenue and expenditure more closely, and that the government planned to consolidate overlapping budget cycles so that Nigeria operates a single national budget from 2026 onward.
