Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has signed an executive order to regulate virtual assets, effective July 17. The order establishes a unified regulatory framework aimed at curbing unregistered operators and preventing fraud, money laundering, and terrorist financing. A Virtual Assets Committee, led by the central bank, will oversee policy formulation and coordination across departments. Under the new framework, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission will regulate securities-type virtual asset businesses, while the central bank will manage payment, settlement, and custody services for non-securities assets. The committee is tasked with developing an implementation framework within 30 days, and the central bank plans to introduce a virtual asset regulatory sandbox. Additionally, the tax department will create special tax policies for virtual assets.