Busha, Quidax Win Regulatory Approval
The digital asset space in Nigeria has received a historic boost in the form of provisional approvals to operate as a digital asset exchanges granted to Busha Digital Limited and Quidax Technologies Limited by the Securities and Exchange Commission of them. This move allows both companies to operate under the Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme, an initiative crucially poised toward integrating and regulating the activities involved in offering digital asset services into the Nigerian financial world.
Among these newly licensed exchanges, Busha Digital Limited operates a place for fiat-to-crypto and vice-versa exchange. Using Busha’s mobile and web applications, one can create, buy, sell, store, send, receive, trade, invest in, and make payments via cryptocurrency.
Quidax Technologies Limited, the second to secure an approval for such operation, operates a crypto currency trading platform which shall operate upon blockchain technology. The platform shall enable users trade existing crypto tokens and is providing its services on a proprietary blockchain it manages.
The Larger Implication of ARIP
The SEC’s ARIP does not end there. Other participants in the program are four digital asset offering platforms and one digital asset custodian. Included are: Trovotech Ltd, Wrapped CBDC Ltd, HousingExchange.NG Ltd, Dream City Capital, and Blockvault Custodian Ltd, which have also been admitted to test their business models and technologies within a controlled regulatory environment.
The ARIP and RI programs were instituted by the SEC to give virtual asset operators a more predictable environment for innovative activities within the bounds of the regulations. They represent the only recognized platforms where capital market operators can introduce digital products and services into the Nigerian capital market.
Binance Legal Drama Might Impact Blockchain Reputation in Nigeria
Their approvals were announced at a time when the activities of cryptocurrency companies in Nigeria were increasingly under scrutiny and multiple litigations, especially as it involved Binance, one of the biggest exchanges on the planet. The Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of them, BICCoN, warned that ongoing legal tussles between top exchange Binance and the government of Nigeria might make Nigeria lose its good reputation as a blockchain-friendly nation.
These continuous court cases and detention of Binance executives could create a climate of uncertainty that will deter potential investors and partners. BICCoN has called for a balanced approach in the resolution of these issues that will not injure the integrity of the Blockchain Ecosystem in Nigeria.
Recent events, like the court acquittal of an executive from Binance for alleged tax evasion, underpin the complicated legal ecosystem in which the blooming crypto industry exists in Nigeria. Even with that noise, recent approvals by the SEC show an ongoing stance toward creating a regulated, viable digital asset market in Nigeria.
