Nigeria SEC to Commence Enforcement Action on Unlicensed Crypto Firms: Reports

• Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission plans to take enforcement action against unlicensed crypto firms.
• The country recently started issuing licenses to crypto firms.

Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans on taking enforcement action against un-regulated crypto firms.

The SEC wants to send a clear message to those who are not trying to operate by the books, that they will not be allowed to target citizens in the country Emomotimi Agama, agency Director General said in a statement on Sunday, local media outlets reported.

“We are certainly going to commence enforcement actions on anyone who wants to operate in this market and does not have the intention of being regulated," Agama said.

The nations approach to crypto has been rather strict despite granting licenses to crypto firms. The country said it would start issuing licenses to crypto firms last month and awarded licenses to cryptocurrency exchange Quidax and Busha shortly after.

However, in the past the country has reportedly blocked exchanges, though at the time Coinbase hit back at reports saying it was still accessible in Nigeria. The country also released guidance in March to prevent criminals from registering as operators.

Nigeria is currently in an on-going trial against the Binance exchange and two of its executives, plus one of the executives is severely ill after being detained for over 6 months and is seeking bail as a result.

"All this we seek to do without hindering innovation because part of our primary responsibility as the SEC is market development," Agama added, talking about enforcement action.

CoinDesk reached out to Nigeria's SEC for a comment.