Nigeria’s central bank opens regulatory sandbox for digital assets

Homepage > News > Finance > Nigeria’s central bank opens regulatory sandbox for digital assets The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced the second cohort of its Regulatory Sandbox Programme, with a dual-track structure designed to support emerging technologies while upholding high standards of consumer protection, financial stability, and market integrity. The program, which opened for applications on August 12, 2026, and closes on August 31, 2026, will run under two dedicated tracks: the “Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) Track” and the “Data-Enabled Financial Services Track.” The VASP track aims to support innovative virtual asset, stablecoin, payment, settlement, custody, wallet, and related financial infrastructure solutions that require supervised live testing; while the data-enabled financial services (non-VASP) track aims to support innovations that leverage secure digital infrastructure and permission-based data sharing to improve financial inclusion, payments, credit, risk management, operational efficiency, and consumer outcomes. In a statement signed by Hakama Sidi Ali, acting director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations Department at t...