Nigeria has taken a decisive step toward ending anonymous cryptocurrency trading by requiring new users of regulated crypto platforms to obtain a Tax Identification Number (TIN) before their accounts can be activated, effectively bringing millions of peer-to-peer (P2P) traders into the country’s formal tax system.
The measure is one of the most consequential provisions in the Nigeria Revenue Service’s (NRS) newly issued Guidelines on the Taxation of Virtual Assets, marking the government’s most comprehensive effort yet to regulate and tax the country’s booming digital asset market.
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While much attention has focused on new taxes on cryptocurrency transactions, industry experts say the TIN-first requirement could have a much bigger long-term impact because it targets the identity of market participants rather than just their transactions.
For years, Nigeria’s vibrant P2P market has allowed millions of users to buy and sell Bitcoin, USDT and other digital assets outside the traditional banking system, making tax enforcement difficult.
