Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed an amendment to the registration fee of platforms offering Crypto Exchange services, raising it from 30 million naira ($18,620) to 150 million naira ($93,000).
According to CoinTelegraph, the SEC said the proposed changes in the amendment were made to provide clarity and incorporate suggestions from industry stakeholders, “particularly concerning the recent engagements with the CBN [Central Bank of Nigeria].”
The Nigerian SEC rolled out its very first rules and guidelines for all crypto and digital assets service providers in May 2022 but on Friday, March 15th, 2024 it proposed a fresh amendment to the existing rules.
Under the new guidelines, digital asset exchanges, digital asset offering platforms, and digital asset custodians will be required to pay an application fee of 300,000 naira ($186), up from the previous 100,000 naira ($62).
The processing fee has also surged from 300,000 naira ($186) to 1 million naira ($620). Similarly, the registration fee has spiked by 400%, from 30 million naira ($18,620) to 150 million naira ($93,102).
Another significant change made by the Nigerian SEC is the renaming of the rules and guidelines from “New Rules on Issuance, Offering Platforms and Custody of Digital Assets” to “Rules on Digital Assets Issuance, Offering Platforms, Exchange, and Custody.”
The SEC stated that this amendment aimed to provide clarity and incorporate stakeholders’ input. The amendment also reflects insights gained from recent discussions with the central bank.
The Nigerian authorities recently accused Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchange platforms of manipulating its local currency, the Naira.
This led to a spat between Binance and Nigerian authorities with the latter detaining two Binance Executives invited into the country to settle the dispute.
According to the Financial Times, Nigeria abandoned its years-long currency peg and allowed the naira to trade freely in June 2023. The country subsequently faces staggering inflation and a free fall of its local currency.
Nigeria has emerged as one of the fastest-growing crypto economies in the world in the past few years. It was the second-biggest economy in the world in terms of crypto adoption in 2023.
In August 2022, Nigeria was named the most crypto-obsessed country in the world by the number of Google searches for “cryptocurrency” or “buy crypto.”
