Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has admitted three additional virtual asset service providers and digital investment platforms into its Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme (ARIP), expanding the regulatory sandbox to 12 firms since July.
On Thursday, the SEC said it had admitted Pisi Payment Solutions, the parent company of Nigerian fintech YDPay, BC Access (Nigeria) Limited, the legal entity of Blockchain Africa—a subsidiary of global cryptocurrency exchange Blockchain—and Yellow Card, the stablecoin infrastructure startup, into the programme.
The approvals grant the firms Approval-in-Principle (AIP) status, allowing them to operate within the sandbox’s defined scope while remaining subject to ongoing regulatory and supervisory conditions. In July, the regulator admitted nine firms into the sandbox, including investment platform GetEquity and cryptocurrency exchanges KuCoin Nigeria and Luno.
“This development means that these entities would receive the Commission’s Approval-in-Principle (AIP), permitting them to operate within the defined scope of the Programme and subject to conditions stipulated by the Commission,” the regulator said in a statement. “An Approval-in-Principle confirms that an entity has satisfied the Commission’s requirements for admission into the Programme.”
The move underscores the SEC’s renewed push to bring crypto-related businesses under a formal regulatory framework following a slowdown in new admissions in 2025. The capital markets regulator is now accelerating the onboarding of digital asset startups into its sandbox as it seeks to balance innovation with investor protection.
Launched in June 2024, ARIP is a controlled testing sandbox for virtual asset providers, tokenised product platforms, and other digital investment businesses. The SEC uses the programme to evaluate new technologies and business models before they are allowed to offer products to the wider investing public.
The SEC first granted admissions and approvals-in-principle to Nigerian cryptocurrency startups Busha and Quidax in August 2024. Those approvals were expected to lead to full licences after a one-year incubation period. However, the regulator has yet to confirm whether either firm has completed that transition, leaving no clear precedent for how sandbox participants become fully regulated crypto operators in Nigeria.
The expansion comes as Nigeria continues to rank among Africa’s largest cryptocurrency markets by adoption, despite years of regulatory uncertainty and periodic restrictions on parts of the sector. Regulators are increasingly shifting from outright caution toward a framework centered on licensing, supervision, and consumer safeguards.
“Nigeria is one of Africa’s most important digital asset markets, and participating in the SEC’s ARIP is an important step forward in our long-term commitment to the country,” Owen Odia, general manager for Africa at Blockchain, told TechCabal. “The programme [allows] us to work directly with the SEC in a controlled environment, bring our global experience to the Nigerian market, and help support a framework that protects consumers while enabling responsible innovation.”
The SEC noted that ARIP admission does not constitute a final operating licence. The regulator has also imposed minimum capital and corporate governance requirements on digital asset companies, with exchanges and custodians required to maintain capital of up to ₦2 billion ($1.5 million).
The latest admissions underscore that Nigeria is moving more decisively toward a supervised digital asset regime, now built around the country’s Virtual Asset Council—along with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) as vice chairs—potentially providing greater clarity for startups, investors, and foreign cryptocurrency firms seeking access to one of Africa’s largest digital asset markets.
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