The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed new investment limits to restrict the amount retail investors can commit to digital asset offerings in Nigeria, capping individual issuer exposure at N1 million and aggregate investments at N10 million over a 12-month period.
The proposed limits are contained in the SEC’s newly published draft regulatory framework titled “Proposed Rules on Digital and Virtual Asset Operations, Custody and Markets,” released on August 20, 2026.
The proposal seeks to establish a broader and more secure ecosystem covering digital asset issuance, trading, custody, tokenisation, and advisory activities across the country.
The Commission noted that the proposed limits form part of essential consumer protection measures designed to safeguard retail participants in Nigeria’s rapidly expanding digital asset ecosystem.
“A retail investor shall not invest more than N1,000,000 per issuer and N10,000,000 in aggregate across digital asset offerings within any twelve-month period,” the SEC stated in the draft document.
To further protect individual investors, the SEC outlined additional compliance rules for transactions exceeding the primary benchmark. Where a retail investor proposes to invest more than N1 million or 5% of their total net worth—whichever is higher—the Digital Asset Offering Platform (DAOP) will be legally required to implement stringent protective measures before accepting the capital.
These mandatory checks include providing a prominent, unambiguous risk warning to the investor and obtaining their explicit written consent to proceed. Additionally, firms must confirm that the investor fully understands the nature and material risks of the underlying digital asset, while also conducting a formal suitability assessment based on the investor’s financial circumstances, market knowledge, experience, and ability to absorb potential losses.
Under the proposed rules, Digital Asset Offering Platforms will be required to establish robust compliance systems to monitor and enforce these investment ceilings. Platforms must introduce mandatory investor categorisation, risk acknowledgement workflows, net-worth declarations, and transaction tracking across their portals.
However, the SEC clarified that these investment ceilings will not apply universally. Institutional investors, qualified institutional buyers, high-net-worth individuals, and other specialized investor categories recognized by the Commission will be exempt from the retail limits.