“SEC’s new capital thresholds are unfair for a nascent industry” – SiBAN president

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has quietly but firmly redrawn the foundations of its capital market.

A new circular published on Friday raises minimum capital requirements across nearly every category of market participant, from brokers and fund managers to exchanges, fintechs, crypto exchanges and intermediaries.

The increases are steep and unmistakably deliberate. A broker licence that once required ₦200 million now needs ₦600 million. Broker-dealers must hold ₦2 billion. Top-tier fund managers jump to ₦5 billion. In the crypto space, a digital-asset intermediary now requires ₦500 million in capital, while a digital-asset exchange must meet a ₦2 billion threshold.

SEC’s new capital requirements for virtual assets

The signal is clear. The SEC wants fewer fragile operators and more institutions with the balance sheets to absorb shocks. It is a shift away from lightly capitalised, entrepreneurial structures towards a market dominated by banks, large exchanges and well-funded fintechs.

For smaller firms, the options narrow to raising capital, merging, finding strategic investors, or exiting altogether.

Stakeholders’ thoughts on the SEC’s new billion-naira capital rules

Stakeholders and industry players broadly see the logic, even if they differ on the consequences. Olumide Adesina, a financial analyst and certified investment trader, said the regulator intends to reinforce the system.

According to him, the SEC aims “to strengthen the country’s capital market by creating improved capital buffers, boosting investors’ confidence and increasing the barrier for entry among dealers, underwriters and fund managers.”

For Nigeria’s crypto and blockchain ecosystem, however, the reaction has been far more critical. Barrister Mela Claude Ake, President of the Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SiBAN), described the move as punitive rather than protective. 

“It’s an unfair requirement for a nascent and overly persecuted industry,” he said. “It begins to feel like regulation has been weaponised against the sector, and domestic players who were young Nigerians who built this industry from nothing are being intentionally pushed aside for moneybags and foreign interests. The fallout would be undesirable.”

Barrister Mela Claude Ake, SiBAN president 

That concern reflects a deeper anxiety within the fintech and crypto community. For years, low capital thresholds allowed startups to innovate quickly and widen access to financial services. The new rules fundamentally alter that equation. Higher capital floors increase compliance, governance and custody standards, which may improve consumer protection. They also raise the cost of survival, especially for early-stage, locally founded players.

The SEC has given firms until 30 June 2027 to comply, with transitional arrangements available on a case-by-case basis. The extended deadline offers breathing space, but the round numbers in the circular suggest a permanent recalibration rather than a temporary tightening.

Efforts to gather reactions from major global crypto platforms operating in Nigeria were unsuccessful. Binance and ByBit did not respond to requests for comment. A representative of Blockchain.com in Nigeria said the company was still reviewing the circular and assessing its implications.

For Buki Ogunsakin, Web3 Policy and Legal Consultant at Interstellar Inc, “The circular represents a strategic overhaul of the current market. It depicts a move to aggressively pursue fewer, larger players with the unambiguous goal of weeding out weaker entities.”

She observed that “while this will definitely reshape the industry landscape, the transition itself will be the most interesting part to watch unfold. A critical question remains as to how innovations will be encouraged under this regime. The transition will be challenging, and players within the ecosystem must employ equally strategic frameworks to navigate it successfully.”

Beyond crypto, the circular reshapes the wider market architecture. Custodial requirements are now explicitly tied to Central Bank prescriptions. Clearing houses, central counterparties and composite exchanges face significant capital hikes.

SEC building

Rating agencies, registrars and trustees are also swept into a more demanding regime. The cumulative effect is a push to professionalise a market long characterised by blurred lines between informal fintech experimentation and regulated financial services.

Consolidation now looks inevitable. Well-capitalised incumbents will be better positioned to acquire smaller players or offer white-label infrastructure. Some innovation may move offshore or into less regulated models, raising difficult policy questions about balancing systemic safety with local entrepreneurship.

For investors, the rationale is straightforward. Better-capitalised firms should be safer. For founders, especially in crypto, the message is harsher. Nigeria’s capital market is being redesigned for scale, resilience and institutional participation. Whether that comes at the cost of domestic innovation is the tension that will define the next phase of regulation.

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