Nigeria’s push to regulate cryptocurrencies has overshadowed the implementation of its own national blockchain policy, delaying a strategy that was designed to unlock as much as $40 billion in economic value and help build a blockchain-powered digital economy.
The policy launched three years ago remains largely unimplemented, putting an estimated $2 trillion economic opportunity at risk.
Industry experts say that while president Bola Tinubu’s recently signed Virtual Assets Executive Order and the implementation of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2025 have brought long-awaited clarity to the regulation of digital assets, the broader blockchain agenda has remained largely untouched since the
National Blockchain Policy for Nigeria was approved in 2023.
Read also: Nigeria targets $92bn crypto flows in offshore oversight test
Obinna Iwuno, founder of the Crypto Bootcamp Community, told BusinessDay that Nigeria is among the few countries globally to have adopted a national blockchain policy, yet implementation has stalled.
Iwuno said Nigeria’s National Blockchain Policy, approved three years ago, has remained largely dormant despite expectations that the current administration would accelerate its implementation.
“There has been no implementation. We thought that with the inception of this administration it was going to be accelerated, but instead what we have witnessed is a stalling,” Iwuno said.
He noted that Nigeria occupies a unique position globally, being the only African country and one of just nine countries worldwide to have adopted a national blockchain policy.
“Nigeria is the only country in Africa that has a national blockchain policy and the ninth country in the world. That is something very important that shouldn’t be experiencing what it is experiencing right now.”
According to Iwuno, the policy remains under the supervision of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) within the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, but little progress has been made since the inauguration of the National Blockchain Steering and Implementation Committee.
“The question is why the National Blockchain Policy is still not operative and activated after the launch of a national steering and implementation committee. It seems like everything was shut down, and that is not good for our country,” he said.
While acknowledging the need for stronger regulation of cryptocurrencies and virtual assets, Iwuno argued that policymakers have paid too much attention to crypto while neglecting blockchain technology itself, which he described as the foundation of the entire ecosystem.
He compared blockchain to crude oil, saying cryptocurrencies are only one of many valuable products that can be derived from the technology.
“It is like focusing only on petroleum when crude oil can produce diesel, kerosene, jet fuel, gas and many other products. Crypto is just one byproduct of blockchain technology. There needs to be much more focus on blockchain because of how it can revolutionise our economy,” he said.
Iwuno said that while virtual assets would become an important economic sector and revenue generator in their own right, blockchain technology has far broader applications that could transform multiple sectors of the economy.
“Blockchain is an entire system that can touch every fabric of our economy and society. From oil and gas to mining, governance, healthcare, education, public service, infrastructure, supply chains and agriculture, virtually every sector stands to benefit if the policy is fully implemented,” he said.
The delay comes as global governments increasingly view blockchain as critical infrastructure rather than merely the technology behind cryptocurrencies.
The policy, developed by the NITDA, was designed to transform Nigeria from a consumer of foreign technology into a producer of blockchain-based digital services.
It proposed building a sovereign blockchain infrastructure known as Nigereum, creating regulatory sandboxes for startups, integrating blockchain into government services, modernising land registries and identity management, and training tens of thousands of blockchain developers.
At launch, NITDA set an ambitious target of generating $40 billion from blockchain technology while positioning Nigeria as Africa’s blockchain innovation hub.
Industry estimates suggest the cost of inaction could be substantial. The Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SiBAN) has previously warned that Nigeria risks missing out on an estimated $2 trillion in long-term economic value by failing to fully implement its blockchain strategy.
Studies by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) also projected that blockchain could contribute $29 billion annually by 2030, up from roughly $1 billion today if adoption accelerates.
Instead, attention has shifted almost entirely to regulating cryptocurrencies.
Last weekend, Tinubu signed the Virtual Assets Executive Order to improve coordination among regulators overseeing digital assets.
The order establishes a Virtual Asset Office and a Virtual Asset Council to coordinate the work of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), tax authorities and other agencies.
While experts welcomed the move as a step towards regulatory certainty, many argue it does little to advance the broader blockchain economy.
Bobola Odebiyi, founder and chief executive of Avanor Labs, said the National Blockchain Policy has remained largely dormant because, while many countries produce ambitious digital economy strategies, far fewer build the institutions, funding mechanisms, accountability structures and public-private partnerships needed to turn those policies into reality.
According to him, the recently signed Virtual Assets Executive Order could help bridge that gap by creating permanent coordination structures instead of relying solely on policy documents. However, he said its success would depend on implementation rather than intention.
“Policy announces ambition. Infrastructure proves whether that ambition is real,” Odebiyi said, adding that the forthcoming government White Paper would only be meaningful if it translated policy goals into measurable priorities, timelines and clear institutional responsibilities.
Odebiyi also argued that government and public debate have focused too heavily on cryptocurrency trading while paying too little attention to blockchain technology itself.
“Blockchain creates trusted digital records, programmable payments and transparent transaction flows. That has implications for trade finance, land registries, supply chains, healthcare records, government payments, digital identity and cross-border commerce,” he said.
He noted that improving blockchain infrastructure would have wider economic benefits than cryptocurrency regulation alone. “If an exporter can receive payment faster, verify documents digitally and settle across borders more efficiently, that is not just a crypto story. It is a trade and productivity story.
“The biggest opportunity is not creating more crypto traders. It is creating better financial infrastructure,” he said.
He said blockchain will increasingly become the invisible infrastructure powering financial services.
“In the future, businesses may use blockchain-based settlement without customers even thinking of it as a crypto product. Most people who use Visa or Mastercard do not think about the payment network underneath. They simply expect the payment to work. The future is not crypto as a separate industry. The future is digital assets becoming part of everyday financial infrastructure,” he said.
Looking ahead, Odebiyi said Nigeria has the potential to become one of Africa’s leading regulated digital finance ecosystems if the new framework is implemented effectively.
He expects the country to develop licensed stablecoin payment infrastructure, institutional custody services, tokenised real-world assets, cross-border settlement networks and greater integration of blockchain technology by banks and financial institutions. He also believes regulatory certainty could attract more international investors to Nigerian companies.
“Nigeria already has the talent, entrepreneurial energy and market demand. Regulatory coordination can help unlock that potential,” he said.
To sustain that momentum, Odebiyi said the government’s next priority should be creating a clear pathway that allows innovators to move from regulatory sandboxes to full commercial licensing.
“The proposed CBN sandbox is a strong start, but innovators also need to know what happens after the sandbox, what standards apply, what licences are required and how compliant companies can scale. Predictability attracts capital. Investors can handle regulation. What they struggle with is uncertainty. The next competitive advantage is not lighter regulation. It is clearer regulation,” he said.
Odebiyi said discussions around digital assets often focus on risks while overlooking the much larger economic opportunity. If Nigeria gets its strategy right over the next decade, he said blockchain and digital financial infrastructure could lower cross-border payment costs, speed up trade settlement, attract foreign investment, create high-skilled technology jobs, expand fintech exports, improve tax compliance, strengthen government service delivery and deepen financial inclusion.
“The biggest mistake would be treating blockchain only as a financial risk to manage. The bigger opportunity is to treat it as economic infrastructure,” he said.
He argued that the global race has shifted from debating whether blockchain belongs in the financial system to determining which countries will build the digital infrastructure that powers trade, payments and investment.
“For years, the debate was whether blockchain and digital assets belonged in the financial system. That debate is largely over. The real competition now is which countries will build the digital financial infrastructure that powers trade, payments and investment over the next generation. Nigeria has the talent and the market. The opportunity is to turn that into infrastructure that serves not just Nigeria, but Africa and global commerce,” Odebiyi said.
Drawing from Avanor Labs’ work in institutional digital dollar infrastructure, he said the Executive Order should be seen as the beginning of a shift from debating blockchain’s legitimacy to using it as a tool to make Nigeria more competitive in global commerce.
Analysts say the slow rollout of the blockchain policy has also contributed to capital flight.
For years, many Nigerian blockchain startups incorporated in jurisdictions such as Delaware, Dubai and London where regulatory pathways were clearer, allowing foreign countries to capture tax revenues, intellectual property and venture capital that could have remained in Nigeria.
The policy had also envisioned training 30,000 Nigerians through blockchain scholarship programmes and integrating blockchain curricula into higher education to develop a skilled workforce for emerging Web3 industries.
Beyond private-sector innovation, the framework proposed migrating public services, including digital identity, academic credential verification, land registries and parts of the eNaira infrastructure, onto blockchain networks to improve transparency, reduce fraud and cut administrative costs.
Read also: Crypto shakeout deepens as dozens of blockchain projects shut down
Despite those ambitions, implementation has remained limited.
The renewed focus on digital asset regulation has led some industry stakeholders to urge the government not to neglect blockchain infrastructure itself.
For Africa’s largest economy, that execution gap may determine whether it becomes a global blockchain hub or watches other countries capture the next wave of digital economic growth.
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