Market News

BY  Sandali Handagama

• Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission proposed dramatic hikes to supervision fees for crypto firms.

• Regulators and government officials have been cracking down on the crypto industry as the country's currency weakens to record lows.

Nigeria's securities watchdog proposed a 400% increase to registration fees for crypto firms as the country cracks down on the sector, according to a notice published Friday.

The proposed amendments to the rules for crypto issuers, exchanges and custody platforms include increases to all supervision fees. Instead of a 100,000 naira ($64) application fee and a 30 million naira registration fee, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) now wants 300,000 naira with every application and hopes to charge crypto firms a 150 million registration fee.

The proposals come as the Nigerian naira weakens to record lows against the dollar, with the government blaming the crypto industry for facilitating illegal capital outflows. Earlier this month, reports surfaced that the SEC was updating its guidelines for crypto service providers in the country.

While the government may have taken action against several crypto firms, officials have singled out exchange platform Binance, accusing it of setting the naira exchange rate. Nigeria has detained two Binance executives and is reportedly considering hefty penalties against the firm.

The SEC also proposed doubling the minimum paid-up capital (non-borrowed capital) requirement for interested crypto service providers to 1 billion naira.

The proposals "to rearrange" the rules are to "provide clarity to the market as well as to incorporate suggestions from industry stakeholders particularly with regards to the recent engagements with the [central bank of Nigeria]," the SEC said.