Nigeria’s central bank has opened a regulatory testing programme to stablecoin providers and other virtual-asset businesses, marking another step in the country’s shift from restricting the crypto industry towards bringing one of Africa’s biggest digital-asset markets under formal supervision.
The Central Bank of Nigeria announced on Tuesday that applications had opened for the second cohort of its Regulatory Sandbox Programme, introducing a dedicated Virtual Asset Service Provider track for the first time.
The track will allow companies developing products involving virtual assets, stablecoins, payments, settlement, custody, wallets and related financial infrastructure to test them in a controlled environment under direct CBN supervision.
Applications opened on August 12 and will close on August 31.
The programme does not amount to a licence to operate, and companies admitted to the sandbox will only be allowed to test their products within parameters agreed with the central bank.
