Business
SEC to Licence Crypto Exchanges as FIRS Seeks Regulation
The Abuja-based Securities and Exchange Commission is looking to issue its first licenses for digital service and tokenized assets this month, Director-General Emomotimi Agama said.
“Being a crypto enthusiast and fintech enthusiast, I can tell you without doubt that this is going to happen sooner than you think,” Agama said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
“We must support the youths of this country to be able to achieve the benefit that is accruable in fintech.
The market size is huge and it is growing. The figure is just “the tip of the iceberg’ considering many transactions are not reported, Agama said.
He said that the SEC wants “to provide a platform where people can formerly do these things and we can get all of the information that we need.
“What we will not encourage is the use of cryptocurrency to manipulate our currency,” Agama said.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, said that an Executive Bill which seeks to overhaul revenue administration in Nigeria, including regulation of the cryptocurrency industry, is being put together for transmission to the National Assembly.
Adedeji, during a stakeholders’ engagement with a joint committee of the National Assembly on Finance, said: “We cannot run away from the cryptocurrency ecosystem because it is the in-thing.
But as it stands in Nigeria today, no law regulates cryptocurrency operations. We need a law that regulates that area of our economy.
This is why we are having this engagement with the legislators. We will regulate it in a way that is not injurious to the economic development of Nigeria.
“Bloomberg commented that the start of regulation will align Nigeria with other jurisdictions, including the European Union, South Africa and Botswana, which have taken steps to govern the asset class.
Regulators across the globe are seeking better ways to rein in crypto following a 2022 crash in prices that led to a slew of bankruptcies, scandals and billions in investor losses.
Nigerian authorities banned banks from supporting crypto transactions due to concerns that traders on digital-currency platforms are manipulating the exchange rate for the naira, which has depreciated about 70% against the dollar since June last year.
The government in February blocked access to the world’s biggest crypto exchange operated by Binance Holdings Ltd. and later prosecuted its executives over allegations of illicit flows and speculation on the naira, which it said deprived the nation of tax revenue and weakened the local currency.
The crackdown on Binance hasn’t deterred young, tech-savvy Nigerians, who have moved to the Bitkoin Africa Inc. and Quidax platforms for their Bitcoin transactions, Agama said in June.
The volume of crypto transactions in the country climbed 9% to $56.7 billion in June 2023 from a year earlier, Chainalysis said in a report.
Business
Nigerian Exchange Emerges Top In Africa By Dollar Values
By comparison, Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, trails Nigeria when returns are converted into dollars, underscoring how currency movements can significantly alter relative market standings from a global investment perspective.
The Nigerian equities market has emerged Africa’s strongest performer in U.S. dollar terms with a 68.2 percent Year- till-Date (YtD) return in the first seven months of 2026.
The bourse performance between January and July 24, 2026 outpaced other continental stock markets helped by investors confidence on the back of reforms by the Nigerian government.
The strong performance in dollar terms highlights the impact of exchange rate dynamics and renewed foreign portfolio participation.
By comparison, Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, trails Nigeria when returns are converted into dollars, underscoring how currency movements can significantly alter relative market standings from a global investment perspective.
Source: ThisDay
Business
Phillips Consulting Report Ranks Enugu Nigeria’s Fastest Improving State
The report assigned Enugu under Governor Peter Mbah a Momentum Score of +1.15, the highest among the 33 states assessed, placing it ahead of Jigawa, which scored +0.77, and Abia with +0.67 to complete the top three.
• Governor Peter Mbah
Enugu State has been ranked as Nigeria’s fastest-improving state in the 2026 Phillips Consulting State Performance Momentum Index, outperforming 32 other states in the latest assessment of governance and development across the country.
The report assigned Enugu under Governor Peter Mbah a Momentum Score of +1.15, the highest among the 33 states assessed, placing it ahead of Jigawa, which scored +0.77, and Abia with +0.67 to complete the top three.
According to Phillips Consulting, the Momentum Index measures the rate at which states improved relative to the national average during the review period. Positive scores indicate above-average progress, while negative scores reflect slower-than-average improvement.
The report said Enugu’s emergence as the national leader reflected deliberate governance, strong fiscal discipline, and sustained implementation of reforms, while the South-east recorded the strongest overall regional performance among Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones
Business
IMF Warns of AI Financial Shocks Across Institutions, Markets
The recommendation was made by the IMF’s Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, Tobias Adrian, in a blog post outlining how AI is transforming financial markets, lending, supervision and risk management.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on central banks and financial regulators to strengthen governance frameworks for Artificial Intelligence (AI), warning that the rapid adoption of the technology across the financial system could create new systemic risks if left inadequately supervised.
The recommendation was made by the IMF’s Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, Tobias Adrian, in a blog post outlining how AI is transforming financial markets, lending, supervision and risk management.
Adrian noted that AI is increasingly being used to price financial risks, allocate credit, execute trades and support supervisory activities, creating opportunities for greater efficiency while introducing new vulnerabilities that regulators must address.
He identified three immediate priorities for policymakers: strengthening oversight of AI-driven trading, lending and supervisory technology (SupTech); improving transparency around AI adoption, model dependencies and correlated investment strategies; and expanding international cooperation on cyber security and operational resilience.
According to him, AI has compressed the speed of financial transactions, allowing trading, lending decisions and supervisory analysis to occur in real time. While these innovations have improved market efficiency, they also increase the speed at which financial shocks can spread across institutions and markets.
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