The new Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Emomotimi Agama has promised to evolve an innovative digital asset regulatory regime that will sustain Nigeria as Africa’s Digital Asset Powerhouse.
Agama, in his first Nigeria Cryptocurrency Market Participants Consultative meeting on Monday said this will lead to diverse solutions like Real world Asset Tokenization (RWA) that will drive wealth and catalyse our capital market.
He however warned that the commission will deal decisively with those bent on involving in illegal trading activities, thereby posing threats to the stability of the capital market.
Consequently, the new SEC boss said the commission is committed to upholding the integrity of our financial markets and protect the interests of all Nigerians.
He warned his audience not to be under any illusion of thinking that there are no rules adding that there is the Securities Acts that some actions by participants today may be violating, hence the law is the law irrespective of the technology.
He promised that the commission is working on a robust guidelines that would take care of all perceived loopholes in the market.
He said, “I want to begin by expressing my gratitude to the leadership of the Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria (Biccon) which i understand is the umbrella body of all major blockchain and cryptocurrency Associations in Nigeria, I assure you of the commission’s readiness to work closely with all stakeholders in the cryptocurrency ecosystem to create a better country for all of us. With our deep understanding of this industry and the cryptocurrency sub sector, we recognize the importance of collaboration and cooperation in addressing the challenges we face; hence your insights and suggestions are invaluable as we seek to navigate these complexities together.
On that note, I want to emphasize that we are working on different fronts to sustain decent practices within our market, however, we are here to meet ourselves to know those playing within the sector decently and are open to hearing your suggestions on how we can effectively manage all obscure cryptocurrency trading activities within our jurisdiction p2p inclusive irrespective of the challenge we all know that p2p trading posses. We must explore innovative solutions to this problem and strike the right balance between encouraging innovation and safeguarding our national economic interests. This we will do in a friendly and firm manner, to enable us to achieve the desired result.
It is our believe that BICCoN as representative of the industry body, will assist us in our effort to identifying bad actors and pointing us to those willing to play by the rules within our country pending the release of our guidelines.
However, let me be unequivocal: SEC Nigeria will not hesitate to utilize all the powers within its mandate to combat illegal trading activities by those who will vow not to play by the rules that will pose a threat to our market stability and economic prosperity. SEC will go all out to act decisively to uphold the integrity of our financial markets and protect the interests of all Nigerians.
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Some may say no rules to play by, but do not forget that we have the Securities Acts that some actions by participants today may be violating, hence the law is the law irrespective of the technology used. However, for specific Digital Asset regulatory regime that many have been calling for, We want to assure you that we are working tirelessly to establish an accommodating regulatory guideline for digital assets. This regulatory guidelines which is currently being fine-tuned with suggestions by various stakeholders will encompass various activities within the cryptocurrency ecosystem ranging from Wallet providers, digital asset custodians and fund managers, Cryptocurrency Crowdfunding, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), Security Token Offerings (STOs), Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs), Cryptocurrency Exchange platform providers, Virtual Asset brokerage services etc, ensuring that every Nigerian playing within the industry with the potential to contribute to our economic progress is included, supported and properly regulated. I am poise for an innovative digital asset regulatory regime that will sustain Nigeria as Africa’s Digital Asset Powerhouse with diverse solutions like Real world Asset Tokenization (RWA) that will drive wealth and catalyse our capital market
I want to extend my gratitude to each and every one of you for your willingness to collaborate and engage in this important dialogue. Together, I am confident that we can create a proper guide rail, weed out bad actors and harness the immense potential of this progressive technology for the benefit of all Nigerians in tandem with this government’s renew hope agenda.”