The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Emotimi Agama, has hinted that some crypto companies, that have applied to be registered by the Commission may not meet the requirements to get its approval.
Agama stated this at a meeting with applicants under its Regulatory Incubation (RI) and Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme (ARIP) its two regulatory windows for crypto players in Nigeria.
Nairametrics recalls that two crypto exchanges, Quidax and Busha were recently granted an approval-in-principle by the SEC to operate as legally recognised exchanges in Nigeria under its ARIP program.
At the time, the Commission also noted that there were several other applications under consideration.
While admitting that it would be difficult to assure that all the applicants would be registered, Agama at the meeting said:
“Certainly, not all of them will meet the requirements. The commission will keep providing clarity to some knotty areas to assist in the process.”
SEC committed to transparency
Agama at the meeting assured stakeholders in the crypto space of the SEC’s commitment to ensure transparency and integrity in crypto regulation, adding that the commission had provided a level playing field to all applicants.
- Agama noted that SEC understood the anxiety and the need to be regulated, but being careful, even in its desire to be inclusive.
- He said that the process of registration was very technical because registration was the hallmark of regulation.
“Registration goes beyond onboarding and registering, it requires monitoring, education, and surveillance, and all of these are continuous,” he said.
Agama stressed the importance of stakeholders’ input, adding that rules would be amended to include all valid points to make it an all-inclusive document.
Nigeria’s role in the crypto space
Emphasizing that the country is ready to lead crypto regulation, the SEC DG said:
“We are trying to ensure that at the end of the day, as a country we will stand out in the regulation of this space.
“Beyond any doubt, this space is the future and for us as Nigerians, we have embraced it.”
The SEC DG noted that the commission was not slow in its processes, but must be sure everything was in order to enable fairness in any pronouncements made.
“In the coming year, we will move faster in delivery and announcements, having learnt from this process. A new law has been passed and it is in the process of obtaining Presidential assent,” he said.
According to him, the law is replete with all of the ingredients legally required to properly regulate this space and give guidance to operators.
“All of these are efforts by the SEC to be as friendly as possible, protect the interest of the ecosystem and the interest of investors,” he said.
What you should know
Nairametrics recently reported that the SEC had proposed a new law aimed at combating the issue of crypto influencers using their influence to promote dubious crypto projects.
The new law requires every crypto platform or Virtual Assets Service Provider (VASP) to be registered with a license from the Nigerian SEC before carrying out any promotion on social media, TV, or Print.
Crypto influencers must also disclose to their community that they are paid to promote a digital asset or a service according to the new law. Failure to do this could attract a fine of N10 million naira and up to 3 years in jail.
