Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission has cleared seven more crypto platforms for its Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme, marking the regulator’s biggest expansion of its digital asset sandbox since the pioneer cohort was admitted in August 2024.
The new entrants are Bitbarter Technologies Limited, Luno Fintech Nigeria Limited, GetEquity Limited, Koinkoin Global Network Limited, Wrapped CBDC Ltd, Trovotech Ltd, and Blockvault Custodian Ltd. Each will now hold an Approval in Principle, granting conditional permission to operate within the programme’s defined limits while remaining under the commission’s supervision.
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Getting an Approval in Principle is not automatic. Applicants first submit an initial assessment form through the SEC’s ePortal along with a non refundable fee, and the commission decides whether the business model qualifies for the programme at all. Firms that pass this stage move to a full application that includes a sworn undertaking, an operational plan, proof of registration with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, letters of no objection from any other sectoral regulator, evidence of shareholders funds, a fidelity bond, and documentation for at least four principal officers, including a compliance lead.
Only then does the commission issue an Approval in Principle, which is conditional clearance to operate under the Investments and Securities Act rather than a full licence. Under the SEC’s tightened digital asset rules, this approval typically lasts up to twelve months, after which qualifying firms are expected to transition to full registration as a digital asset exchange, offering platform, or custodian.
Luno Nigeria chief executive Ayotunde Alabi described the approval as an important milestone, saying it validates the company’s commitment to building responsibly in one of Africa’s most important cryptocurrency markets and gives Luno a clearer regulatory pathway as it expands into institutional and business to business opportunities.
What stands out about this round is how many familiar names resurface. Three of the seven firms, Trovotech, Wrapped CBDC, and Blockvault Custodian, were part of the five companies first admitted into the SEC’s parallel Regulatory Incubation programme back in August 2024, alongside HousingExchange.NG and Dream City Capital. Their return here with upgraded Approval in Principle status rather than mere Regulatory Incubation status suggests a pipeline that is slowly maturing, with firms that spent close to two years being tested under SEC supervision now advancing to a more formal track. Luno and Koinkoin are less new to the conversation than they might appear. Executives from both companies appeared before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee on cryptocurrency adoption in November, alongside Busha and Quidax, and Luno had publicly confirmed as far back as September that it had applied for SEC incubation and was awaiting a decision. GetEquity, an equity crowdfunding and tokenised investment platform, and Bitbarter, a peer to peer trading platform, complete the new cohort.
Counting Busha and Quidax, the two pioneer digital asset exchanges cleared in 2024, alongside these seven new entrants, at least nine firms have now held an Approval in Principle under the programme. Including those still sitting in the earlier Regulatory Incubation track without an upgrade, at least eleven distinct firms have passed through some stage of the SEC’s digital asset incubation structure.
The timing carries weight beyond the numbers. This expansion follows the enactment of the Investments and Securities Act 2025, which for the first time formally classifies virtual assets and investment contracts as securities and gives the SEC explicit statutory authority to register and regulate digital asset exchanges as market infrastructure rather than platforms operating purely at the regulator’s discretion. For a country that ranks among the highest in the world for grassroots crypto adoption, and where exchanges have long operated in a grey zone between central bank restrictions and uncertain securities status, a widening approval list points to two things happening at once, growing regulatory confidence in vetted local operators and a narrowing window for platforms that have not applied at all.
An Approval in Principle is not the finish line. Conditions still apply, supervision continues, and full registration under the Digital Assets Rules remains ahead for every firm on the list.
The commission has repeatedly stressed that ARIP and the Regulatory Incubation programme remain the only lawful channels through which digital asset businesses can serve Nigerian investors, and it continues to urge the public to verify any platform’s status through its official portals before trading. Still, for an industry long defined by regulatory ambiguity, each new cohort narrows the gap between Nigeria’s outsized crypto adoption and a framework finally built to match it.
