The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission has recently taken significant action—raising the minimum capital requirements for digital asset exchanges and custodial service providers by four times. The requirement was increased from the previous 500 million Naira to 2 billion Naira (approximately $1.4 million), which is indeed a substantial adjustment.

Interestingly, this figure is higher than the 1 billion Naira plan that was discussed but ultimately abandoned. It appears that regulators are increasingly strict about risk management for exchanges.

In addition to exchanges and custodial institutions, other categories have also introduced new regulations. The minimum capital requirement for Digital Asset Offering Platforms (DAOP) and RWA tokenization platforms has been set at 1 billion Naira. This round of policy adjustments covers a wide range of areas within the digital asset ecosystem.

This reflects the ongoing upgrade in compliance requirements for crypto market participants by regulators across different regions—higher capital thresholds mean stronger risk resistance, and may also accelerate market reshuffling. Smaller players will face greater pressure, which is a typical sign of tightening regulation.