ABUJA, Nigeria – In a significant move to assert control over the nation’s financial landscape, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other financial regulators to intensify the surveillance and tracking of all cryptocurrency transactions.
The directive was announced by the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, during his address at the 18th Annual Banking and Finance Conference in Abuja on Wednesday, September 10, 2025. The order is framed as a necessary measure to mitigate risks to Nigeria’s economic stability, which the government argues is threatened by the rapid migration of financial activities to digital assets operating outside the traditional banking system.
This new crackdown builds upon recent legislation that formally recognized digital assets in Nigeria. However, the government now aims to address persistent concerns that these largely unregulated platforms can facilitate money laundering and contribute to foreign exchange volatility.
The announcement has been met with immediate skepticism and debate on social media. Many users on platform X have questioned the government’s technical capability to effectively track decentralized and peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transactions. Others have voiced concerns about the underlying motives of the directive, suggesting it is less about stability and more about controlling financial flows, especially amid Nigeria’s ongoing economic challenges.
As the policy is implemented, a key focus will be on how regulators balance the innovation of digital assets with the perceived risks to the national economy.
