Digital Asset Markets Take-off In Nigeria
At a landmark strategy session and special masterclass, the founder and Chairman of the Global Investment Advisory community, Dr Nicky Okoye, a global investment advisor, provided the Nigerian financial and capital market industry with a detailed overview of what the digital asset markets will look like for Nigeria in the months and years to come, in his digital asset markets strategy keynote address.
The strategy session and masterclass were hosted by the capital market’s apex regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, in association with the Global Investment Advisory community, which is a community of institutional financial investors, investment banks, asset management firms and high net-worth sophisticated, accredited investors. Some notable members of the institutional investors’ community include but are not limited to, MERISTEM Group, CardinalStone, Constant Capital, Anabel Capital and VFD Group etc.
Dr Okoye in his keynote address, placed key emphasis on the fact that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had recently signed the new Investment and Securities Act 2025, which provided for the final authorisation and defined the regulatory framework within which the digital asset markets will operate in Nigeria.
He added that the ISA Act 2025, authorises cryptocurrencies in Nigeria, as well as provides a strong legal basis for the issuance of tokens, which are the key digital assets that will be traded and exchanged between investors within our own digital asset markets ecosystem in Nigeria.
The Digital Asset Markets Strategy session, which was held on the 11th of April 2025 at SEC’s Lagos auditorium, was attended by an overflowing audience of financial, banking and capital market institutions, technology and finance professionals, as well as many investors and members of the general public.
Key strategic positions were covered by other keynote speakers, including Joseph Tegbe, the Director General of the Nigeria – China Strategic Partnership, who guided the audience on the monumental investments being made by China across the World and gave strategic insights into how Nigeria’s new digital asset markets can access institutional investment from China.
The Director General of SEC, Dr Timi Agama, who was represented by Executive Commissioner Operations, Bola Ajomale, provided the audience with assurances that SEC was ready for the digital asset markets and that the regulatory body has already put in place structures for accommodating a vibrant and transparent digital asset market in Nigeria, that would stimulate local and international investor confidence.
A major highlight of the event included a commitment from the Chairman of the Nigerian Senate’s Committee on Capital Markets, Distinguished Senator Osita Izunaso, who pledged that his Senate capital markets committee would continue to work with the Global Investment Advisory community and Dr Nick Okoye, to identify new areas of legislative adjustment or amendments that will further deepen the digital asset markets and the capital markets as a whole in Nigeria.
His Excellency Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Executive Governor of Lagos State, who was the Special Guest of Honour, indicated that Lagos State was ready for the digital asset markets.
He reminded the institutional investment and financial community present that Lagos was the first state to issue State Government bonds, back when the Nigerian capital markets had just introduced structured bonds as a route for long-term State Government funding.
His Excellency Governor Sanwo-Olu was represented by the Hon Commissioner of Finance for Lagos State, Mr. Yomi Oluyomi.
Dr Nick Okoye, global investment advisor, had this to say regarding the introduction of Digital Assets Markets in Nigeria, “The digital Asset Markets in Nigeria and our ability to position for its full adoption across Africa will redefine Nigeria and subsequently Africa’s wealth and economic future. It is our expectation that these digital asset markets will provide, for the first time in Nigeria and Africa’s history, a rare and unique opportunity for a true measure and a true reflection of Nigeria’s and, subsequently, Africa’s entire wealth position.
“We are committed to ensuring that our own African people will be the owners and operators of this new digital asset markets ecosystem, as our digital assets will be listed as well as traded on the blockchain and they will be tied to underlying physical assets, which will reduce the volatility that is witnessed and prevalent in most other digital markets across the World, this is very powerful and nothing short of revolutionary.”
The event ended on a positive, upbeat note, with the Global Investment Advisory community committing to take a selection of its members on an international digital asset markets roadshow to understudy cryptocurrency and digital asset exchanges across the World.
In addition, the operator of the global investment advisory community, Anabel Capital, in association with the African Enterprise Institute, unveiled some special executive programs in Digital Asset Markets Strategy that are designed for financial and capital market operators to better prepare their executive teams for the new digital asset marketplace.
These strategic digital asset markets strategy executive programs come with guides, roadmaps and innovative elements of the digital asset markets that guarantee monumental profits for any digital asset operator that is implementing this pathway.
Some of the opportunities that come with certifications include but are not limited to Digital Asset Markets Professional Services firms’ program, which includes a pathway for all the new professional services that this digital asset markets introduction will require, digital asset markets desks for conglomerates and subnational authorities to engage with the digital asset markets as either asset owners or as asset investors, and then they have the tokenisation as a path to wealth creation and wealth management, which is best suited for institutional investors, asset owners, institutional asset managers and for sophisticated accredited investors.
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