Nigeria’s securities regulator has opened its doors wider to the digital asset industry, admitting three more companies, including stablecoin startup Yellow Card and Blockchain Africa, into a controlled testing sandbox designed to prepare them for formal licensing.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Thursday it had admitted Pisi Payment Solutions, the parent company of Nigerian fintech YDPay; BC Access (Nigeria) Limited, the legal entity of Blockchain Africa, a subsidiary of global cryptocurrency exchange Blockchain; and Yellow Card, the stablecoin infrastructure startup, into its Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme (ARIP).
These approvals grant the firms Approval-in-Principle (AIP) status, allowing them to operate within the sandbox’s defined scope while remaining subject to ongoing regulatory and supervisory conditions. In July, the regulator had already admitted nine firms, including investment platform GetEquity and cryptocurrency exchanges KuCoin Nigeria and Luno, bringing the total to 12 since the programme began accepting participants.
“This development means that these entities would receive the Commission’s Approval-in-Principle (AIP), permitting them to operate within the defined scope of the Programme and subject to conditions stipulated by the Commission,” the regulator said in a statement. “An Approval-in-Principle confirms that an entity has satisfied the Commission’s requirements for admission into the Programme.”
The latest admissions reflect the SEC’s renewed effort to bring crypto-related businesses under a formal regulatory framework after a slowdown in new entrants in 2025. By accelerating the onboarding of digital asset startups into its sandbox, the capital markets regulator aims to balance innovation with investor protection.
ARIP was launched in June 2024 as a controlled testing environment for virtual asset providers, tokenised product platforms and other digital investment businesses. The SEC uses it to evaluate new technologies and business models before they are allowed to offer products to the wider investing public.
The first approvals under the programme went to Nigerian cryptocurrency startups Busha and Quidax in August 2024. Those approvals were expected to lead to full licences after a one-year incubation period, but the regulator has yet to confirm whether either company has completed that transition. That leaves no clear precedent for how sandbox participants become fully regulated crypto operators in Nigeria.
The expansion comes as Nigeria continues to rank among Africa’s largest cryptocurrency markets by adoption, despite years of regulatory uncertainty and periodic restrictions on parts of the sector. Regulators are increasingly shifting from outright caution toward a framework centered on licensing, supervision and consumer safeguards.
“Nigeria is one of Africa’s most important digital asset markets, and participating in the SEC’s ARIP is an important step forward in our long-term commitment to the country,” Owen Odia, general manager for Africa at Blockchain, told TechCabal. “The programme [allows] us to work directly with the SEC in a controlled environment, bring our global experience to the Nigerian market, and help support a framework that protects consumers while enabling responsible innovation.”
The SEC noted that ARIP admission does not constitute a final operating licence. The regulator has also imposed minimum capital and corporate governance requirements on digital asset companies, with exchanges and custodians required to maintain capital of up to ₦2 billion ($1.5 million).
The latest admissions underscore that Nigeria is moving more decisively toward a supervised digital asset regime, now built around the country’s Virtual Asset Council, with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) as vice chairs. This could provide greater clarity for startups, investors and foreign cryptocurrency firms seeking access to one of Africa’s largest digital asset markets.
With 12 firms now in the ARIP fold, Nigeria’s crypto regulatory landscape is becoming more defined, yet the industry still awaits its first full licence as the programme’s graduates remain in limbo.
