LAGOS, Nigeria; 6 August 2026: Nigeria’s $92 billion virtual asset market, built overwhelmingly by young Nigerians and now the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa, risks being driven offshore by the new Guidelines on the Taxation of Virtual Assets, the Digital Assets Coalition warned today as it published its formal position paper on the framework, which came into force on 3 August 2026.
The Coalition, the industry alliance representing digital-asset participants and operators in Nigeria, opens the paper, titled “Tax the Profit, Not the Movement of Money”, with an unambiguous statement of support for taxation. It backs taxing real gains, registering platforms, verifying customers, and requiring full transaction reporting, in line with the standards of the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil.
The Coalition objects to the charges on the gross movement of money rather than on any profit earned. The first is a 1.5% stamp duty on every conversion between naira and digital assets, never refunded and charged whether a person gains or loses. The second is a 1% withholding deducted from the entire value of every sale, even where the seller made a loss. A third concern is the requirement to remit taxes in tokens, which is inconsistent with the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025, whose Section 39 mandates payment in currency.
