The executive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has observed that cryptocurrency as an innovation and transactional technology in the global economy required governing rules to regulate its ecosystem in the country in order to prevent fraudulent abuse.
He made the observation in Abuja on Wednesday, September 3, 2025 when Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SIBAN), led by their president, Obinna Iwuno, paid him a courtesy visit at the Commission’s corporate headquarters.
Speaking through his Chief of Staff, Commander of the EFCC, CE Michael Nzekwe, Olukoyede stated that, “Crypto is the new oil. There’s so much money in crypto. The ecosystem is something that needs to be properly regulated. If that regulation is not done, even the genuine actors will run into big problems.”
“The truth is that there’s a thin line between the genuine crypto operators and the fraudsters. What has been happening is that even politically-exposed persons are now using it as a means for laundering money and some of the actors in the ecosystem are falling for them. Even some of the ones you say are genuine, launder money. So , it’s important that we’re having this particular meeting,” he added.
While encouraging players in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to prioritise enlightenment and training of investors, Olukoyede noted that SIBAN could contribute to the fight against money laundering by being whistleblowers.
“I think that one of the things that will be taken out from here is that we’re going to have a better time to sit down and look at all the issues deeply. I’m glad you are a trainer. Identify some key factors, one is enlightenment and training also. We want to ensure that we have a clean economy. We can collaborate to stop money laundering. You can blow the whistle. You can be a whistleblower,” he said.
Earlier in his remarks, Iwuno noted that the critical place of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in the national economy has motivated SIBAN to draw up a set of regulatory codes.
“We have a code of ethics which we have drafted using international best practices and standards from other jurisdictions across the world that have done regulation. It is a code of ethics for practitioners and operators in Nigeria. That is a show of our commitment and willingness to be ethical; to be regulated and also to be compliant to the laws of the land and the requirements of regulation across the world. We have declared our openness and our needs and requirements for regulation. We have been on this since 2018, asking to regulate this sector so that we don’t lose out and become victims of capital flight,” he said.
He called for collaboration with the EFCC, stating that it would enable SIBAN to make meaningful input in the fight against investment fraud and money laundering.
“We want to engage with you in the areas of education, collaboration, awareness creation and anti-scam campaigns across the country. We want to also work with you on how to identify crypto frauds and scams. We want to also have that relationship where we will be able to report bad actors to you and you take action. If we have this relationship, we would be able to stop these people before they even go on.
“There are so many things that we can do, but we want to find a baseline. The EFCC can utilize the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency to the benefit of the Commission in its operations. In our first training on crypto investigation and compliance, one of the things that we did was to tell our operators that you must implement KYC (Know Your Customer) on your platforms; that you cannot be offering service to anybody without full KYC and you have to do KYC in line with the regulatory requirements in Nigeria. Another thing that we did was that every digital asset platform must have at least a minimum of two compliance officers working on the platform,” he said.
Speaking further, Iwuno stated that, “So as much as we clamour for regulation, sanity, safety and protection of investors and consumers and making sure that Nigeria does not become a channel or an avenue for bad actors and all of these crimes, we want to also make sure that innovation is not strangulated nor stifled in the process. This is the reason why we have sought to start engaging with all relevant stakeholders of which the EFCC is one and the very core pillar of our nation and the government.”
“We have the largest population in Africa, we have the largest youths. Nigerians are the most active people on this continent, but we also stand at risk that our ecosystem, growing at this fast pace, without proper regulations to guide activities on digital assets and blockchain technology, may open up to risks . Risks in the areas of money laundering, terrorism financing, threats to our national security, and even proliferation financing. All of these we take into consideration,” he added.
