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The CEO of crypto firm KoinKoin, Olaniyi Atose, has attributed the Nigerian government’s heightened focus on the crypto industry to the rapidly growing volume of digital asset transactions in the country.
Atose, who stated this on Thursday in Lagos during the official launch of the company’s KoinKoin app, cited Chainalysis data, which shows that Nigeria recorded $92.1 billion in on-chain crypto transactions value between July 2024 and June 2025.
The KoinKoin CEO added that the scale of crypto activity in Nigeria showed that digital assets had become an established part of the financial ecosystem and could no longer be ignored.
According to him, the large volume of crypto transactions was one of the reasons the government and financial regulators had increased their focus on developing a regulatory framework for the sector.
Crypto activity needs regulatory visibility
Atose noted that while substantial crypto transactions were taking place in the country, regulators did not have sufficient visibility into the activity, creating challenges from an anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing perspective.
- “The reality is, Nigeria is the second adopter of crypto in the world. So that means there’s something happening,” he said, adding that the activity spans both business-to-business and retail transactions.
He said past attempts at banning or restricting cryptocurrency only pushed the activities underground rather than eliminate them.
According to him, a regulatory framework would enable the government to understand the sector better while demonstrating to the international financial community that Nigeria has appropriate mechanisms for monitoring digital asset activities.
KoinKoin working with regulators
Atose said KoinKoin has been involved in several regulatory initiatives as Nigeria moves towards a more structured digital asset market.
He said the company is part of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s pilot cohort focused on anti money laundering and counter terrorist financing.
He also disclosed that KoinKoin had been issued an Approval in Principle by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to participate in its Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme (ARIP).
According to him, the company has also been invited by the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) to participate in a pilot programme for tax collection and has been recognised by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit as part of efforts to strengthen suspicious transaction reporting.
- “We’re very proud of what we’ve achieved in terms of our recognition by all these entities, but the work is not done,” he said.
Atose disclosed that KoinKoin had also been admitted into Ghana’s regulatory sandbox and plans to launch its operations in the country in the coming weeks.
He said the company was excited about expanding beyond Nigeria and hoped to replicate its regulated approach in the Ghanaian market.
At the launch, Atose said the KoinKoin app would provide users with access to digital assets, including Bitcoin and digital dollar products.
Atose also welcomed the Federal Government’s executive order on virtual assets, saying it would help harmonise the activities of the different regulatory agencies involved in the sector.
He said the harmonisation would place greater responsibility on operators to ensure that the digital asset ecosystem remains safe and compliant.
CBN, NRS, SEC take action on virtual assets
In July this year, President Bola Tinubu signed the Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026, establishing a new framework to coordinate the regulation of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, tokenised assets, and other digital assets across government agencies.
- Weeks after that, the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) also released new Guidelines on the Taxation of Virtual Assets targeting companies, individual taxpayers, Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace operators, and other participants in Nigeria’s digital asset ecosystem.
Before that, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had intensified efforts at granting approval in principle to crypto exchanges under its Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme (ARIP).
- Under the SEC regulatory sandbox, the Commission recently cleared three additional Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) for admission into its ARIP, bringing the number of crypto firms under the regulatory sandbox to 14.
Meanwhile, the CBN also recently opened applications for the second cohort of its Regulatory Sandbox Programme, introducing dedicated tracks for virtual asset service providers and data-enabled financial services.
