• Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission plans to license issuers of virtual assets including cryptocurrencies this month.

• The West African nation also plans to introduce a bill by September enabling it to tax crypto.

Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to license issuers of virtual assets including cryptocurrencies as adoption surges in the West African nation, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

The SEC wants to issue its first licenses for digital service and tokenized assets as early as this month, Director-General Emomotimi Agama told Bloomberg.

The Abuja-based regulator is responding to the surge in demand for crypto, Agama said. "The market size is huge and it is growing,” Agama said.

Nigeria is following nations across the world who have decided to license crypto companies. South Africa, the largest economy on the continent, recently started a crypto licensing regime. France introduced a new regime earlier this month, and the U.K. has been registering companies under its anti-money laundering rules since 2020 while it waits for more specific rules.

Nigeria also plans to introduce a bill by September that would enable it to tax crypto. In the meantime, the country is suing crypto exchange Binance for tax evasion and money laundering and is holding one of its executives in prison on money laundering charges.

CoinDesk reached out to Nigeria's SEC for comment.

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