Nigeria has taken a significant step towards creating a digital economy by approving a national blockchain policy. The initiative embraced by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy looks to leverage secure transactions, data sharing and value exchange between people, businesses and government as part of creating a Blockchain-powered economy.

The policy document, which has yet to be made available to the public, was announced via a tweeted statement from the ministry, which states its' mission of the policy is to ensure that innovation, trust, growth, and prosperity for all is enhanced. Notably, the tweet does not mention cryptocrrencies, which Nigeria cracked down on in 2021.

To help implement the policy and drive its committment to a blockchain-focused economy effectively, the Federal Executive Council has directed the organisations such as the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to develop regulatory instruments to be deployed across different industry sectors.

This followed news reported by Bloomberg earlier in the week in which they highlighted the SEC’s consideration to allow tokenized coin offerings backed by equity, debt or property – but “not crypto” – on licensed digital asset exchanges.

The policy goes one step further in its drive by approving a multi-sectoral Steering Committee, whose purpose is to ensure the policy is adhered to in order to implement the proposed changes.

Overall, the concept of blockchain tech in Nigeria has come a long way. Its application in the economy has been proven to be a success and its onward progress will likely ensure a more efficient, transparent and secure transaction process for the global market. With the country’s support of the blockchain technology and its willingness to integrate this into its economy, the Nigerian government is becoming an ideal motivation for other nations to do the same. However, it remains unclear what the country’s stance on cryptocurrencies is, and it will require further details to gain an understanding of where cryptos stand in the country.



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