Why issuance of more crypto exchange licences in Nigeria is delayed—SEC  

The Director General of the SEC, Emomotimi Agama, stated this while speaking during a virtual engagement with fintech stakeholders on the Investment and Securities Act (ISA 2025) on Monday.

He acknowledged that the Commission had received several applications before and after announcing the first provisional licenses last year, but noted that a lot of issues had come up from the first set of licences that require a higher level of due diligence.

“I must apologize to people or individuals, and companies that have applied ever since before the issuance of the provisional licenses and up to this point. That work has been happening on the ground.

“Out of those first provisional licenses, we have observed some very important issues which we need to take care of.

“We have observed that some additional level of due diligence, what I call a level three due diligence, needs to happen before we can come out with the next provisional licenses. It may appear to have taken too long, more than necessary,” the SEC DG explained.

Agama also noted that the process is taking a longer time because other regulatory agencies have to make inputs.

“This is in collaboration with other sister agencies for which we have very little control around their processes, and so we wait and hope to hear from everyone within the shortest time frame in order to be more comfortable with the licenses or provisional licenses that will be issued out,” he stated.

The SEC in August last year announced that it had granted an Approval-in-Principle to two crypto exchanges, Quidax and Busha, giving them the status of legally recognised crypto trading platforms in the country.

It added that other applications received were being assessed and would be granted Approval-in-Principle on a case-by-case basis as they meet all its requirements.