As part of a major overhaul of its tax regime, Nigeria is developing a new approach to cryptocurrency oversight that relies on tax and identity systems rather than blockchain oversight.
Under its newly enacted tax reforms, crypto service providers are required to link transactions with Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) and, where applicable, National Identification Numbers (NINs).
The framework is embedded in the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA) 2025, which came into effect on January 1, and marks the country’s cleanest tax overhaul.
By requiring identity disclosure at the reporting layer, Nigeria aims to make cryptocurrency activity visible to tax authorities, without the need to monitor blockchain infrastructure.
With this, transactions can be matched against income declarations, tax filings and historical records to be associated with individuals.
Identity-based reporting replaces high-level monitoring
Under the new framework, Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPS) operating in Nigeria will have to file regular returns with the tax authorities that include details on the nature and value of digital asset transactions they facilitate.
These reports should include customer identification data, including names, contact details and tax IDs, NINs are mandated for individual customers.
The law also enables tax authorities to request additional information from service providers and requires long-term retention of transaction and customer records.
VASPs are also mandated to flag suspicious and large transactions to tax agencies and financial intelligence units, increasing the monitoring of the country’s anti-money laundering (AML) framework.
For local regulators, the approach provides a more practical alternative to blockchain analytics, which can be technically complex and expensive. By linking compliance to tax and identity systems, authorities can follow crypto flows as they interact with regulated entities.
The framework seeks to close the implementation gaps created by earlier legislation. According to local news outlet TechCable, although Nigeria introduced a tax on crypto profits in 2022, compliance has been uneven due to difficulty linking trades to identifiable taxpayers.
The mandatory use of tuns and nans seems designed to close this implementation gap.
Related: Central Bank Governor Says Ghana Passes Law to Legalize Crypto Trading
A global shift in crypto-tax enforcement
Nigeria’s model mirrors a broader international trend toward identity-based crypto reporting.
The NTAA is aligned with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which also went into effect on January 1.
According to the OECD, Nigeria is among the second batch of countries committed to implementing the global framework by 2028.
Nigeria’s adoption of such a mechanism indicates its intention to integrate into this emerging global reporting network.
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