CBN Opens Second Cohort of Regulatory Sandbox for Virtual Asset Firms

The Central Bank of Nigeria has opened applications for the second cohort of its Regulatory Sandbox Programme, running from August 12 to August 31, 2026, as the apex bank works to bring virtual asset firms and digital-finance startups under closer supervision. The programme runs two tracks: one for virtual asset service providers covering stablecoins, crypto on/off-ramps, custody and wallet services, and a second for non-VASP firms that use secure digital infrastructure and permission-based data sharing to improve payments, credit and risk management.

The sandbox is not new: an earlier pilot cohort included prominent players such as Flutterwave, Paystack and Juicyway, giving the CBN a testing ground to observe how emerging payment and settlement technologies behave before they reach the wider public. Participants accepted into the new cohort must meet requirements on consumer protection, cybersecurity, operational resilience and regulatory reporting, and the CBN continues to oversee virtual assets used for payments while the Securities and Exchange Commission regulates digital assets that function as securities.

The push for clearer rules follows President Bola Tinubu's July 18 executive order establishing a Virtual Asset Council, chaired by the CBN and coordinating regulation across agencies including the SEC, the Nigeria Revenue Service and the Financial Intelligence Unit. The stakes are considerable: Chainalysis estimates that Nigerians transacted about $92.1 billion in cryptocurrencies between July 2024 and June 2025, with stablecoins increasingly used for everyday payments and remittances rather than pure speculation.

Nigerian fintech executives have welcomed the sandbox approach as a middle path between an outright crypto ban and unchecked speculation, arguing that supervised experimentation gives regulators visibility into new products while allowing legitimate payment and remittance innovation to continue. For fintechs, a sandbox berth is also seen as a credibility signal to investors and banking partners at a time when global scrutiny of stablecoin issuers is intensifying.

Source: TechAfrica News