TL;DR
- NTAA 2025 links crypto transactions to TINs and NINs so tax authorities can track activity in real time.
- TINs are issued for tax compliance, while NINs tie identity to biometrics, letting flows be matched to income records.
- Nigeria cites $92.1B in value from July 2024 to June 2025, aligns with OECD CARF, and pairs the push with a CBN stablecoin task force as eNaira uptake stays sluggish.
Nigeria has unveiled new tax law mechanisms that could eventually make cryptocurrencies traceable by linking transactions to national IDs. Under the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA) 2025, authorities plan to track crypto activity in real time through Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) and National Identification Numbers (NINs). Exchanges and service providers must collect and report both identifiers so flows can be matched with income declarations and tax records. The policy turns crypto into something regulators say they can audit without directly accessing the blockchain itself. For market participants, that is a meaningful escalation almost immediately.
Oversight built on IDs
To make the linkage work, Nigeria has mandated crypto exchanges and service providers to collect and report clients’ TINs and NINs, expanding identity tracing into the crypto ecosystem. A TIN is a unique number issued by the Nigerian Revenue Service and the Joint Tax Commission to track tax compliance and enforcement for individuals and businesses. A NIN links personal identification information to biometric data such as fingerprints and face scanners in the national database. By attaching exchange flows to these IDs, authorities can connect transfers to individuals and reported income. The intent is traceability.
This push lands in a market Nigeria says it wants to see clearly. Nigeria again ranks among Africa’s top cryptocurrency adopters, according to Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Adoption Index, and the market is estimated to have gained $92.1 billion in value between July 2024 and June 2025. Nigeria’s financial regulator also announced last year it was considering a bill to include crypto taxation in its regulatory framework. Officials also frame the approach as aligned with the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, CARF, for global tax transparency. That alignment hints at cross-border reporting expectations for local platforms.
The oversight push is not happening in isolation. The Central Bank of Nigeria has recently formed a new task force to explore stablecoin adoption, a move tied to sluggish uptake of the eNaira and growing public skepticism about its performance. For exchanges, the near-term work is operational: collect TINs and NINs, keep them current, and ensure reporting lines up with customer records as transactions are monitored in real time. For users, the practical change is that crypto activity may be easier to tie back to identity and tax history. That is the new baseline.
