Earlier today, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a press release dated 12 February 2021 (the “Press Release”) in an attempt to provide regulatory certainty in view of the Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”) Letter on Cryptocurrency dated 5 February 2021 (the “CBN Letter”) which effectively prohibits cryptocurrency transactions in Nigeria.

According to the SEC, the Press Release was in response to the several public comments and inquiries about the unclarity and perceived policy conflict between the SEC Statement on Digital Assets dated 11 September 2020 and the CBN Letter.

In this FinTech Update, we set out the highlights of the Press Release and the real time implications for the Nigerian digital assets ecosystem.