5 entries.
The FSCA's supervisory update on Crypto Asset Service Providers reports 30 on-site inspections between April 2025 and March 2026, with regulatory expectations clarified under the FAIS Act framework. There is no new licensing regime yet; FAIS remains the baseline while Directive 9 and Travel Rule work continues. The inspection count is the story: SA's conduct regulator is actively supervising licensed CASPs, not just licensing them. For licensed firms, an inspection-readiness file is now a practical necessity rather than a nice-to-have.
SEC Nigeria revoked Kensington Agro Trading Limited's registration as a capital market operator with immediate effect, invoking Section 61(6) of the Investments and Securities Act 2025. It is the first publicised revocation under the new statute's authority. Grounds were not disclosed; commodity exchanges and investors were told to cease dealings. The significance is procedural: fourteen months after enactment, the Commission is using ISA 2025's teeth and not just its licensing forms. Operators registered under the pre-2025 framework should treat their compliance posture as due for audit.
The NBE declared all birr-paired peer-to-peer crypto transactions illegal unless expressly authorised, citing FX manipulation, fraud and missing AML/CFT safeguards. It is Ethiopia's first named regulatory action on crypto. Read it as currency policy rather than crypto philosophy: after the July 2024 reform programme and a roughly 200% birr devaluation, the ban closes an arbitrage channel. The same statement confirms a comprehensive digital asset framework is in development with global peer regulators; the prohibition is scoped narrowly and authorisation is explicitly contemplated. When that framework lands, it would be East Africa's second formal licensing regime after Kenya. The ban is the signal; the framework is the story. Re-verified 6 July 2026: the framework had not been published; the Financial Intelligence Service was reported to be developing crypto transaction regulations, with wider legislation still expected in 2026.
SEC Nigeria issued a public warning declaring Aurum Bot, an online platform soliciting crypto investments, unregistered and unlicensed to operate in any capacity in Nigeria. It is one warning among many, and that is the point: under the Investments and Securities Act 2025 the Commission is running a steady surveillance-and-warning operation against unlicensed digital asset platforms, published through its circulars feed. Platforms soliciting Nigerian retail investors without ISA 2025 registration should assume they are visible.
On the same day as its Aurum Bot alert, SEC Nigeria warned against ModMount Services Limited, a CFD broker offering forex, stocks, commodities and crypto to Nigerian investors while presenting itself as a licensed international operator. The doctrine in the warning matters more than the name: claimed offshore licensing does not substitute for Nigerian registration under ISA 2025. Every multi-asset platform marketing to Nigerian retail from abroad is on notice.
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