Starting July 8, 2024, the Nigerian government will begin imposing a 7.5% Value Added Tax (VAT) on cryptocurrency transactions for users registered in the country. The announcement was made by the popular cryptocurrency platform KuCoin in a recent email notice to its Nigerian users.
“We are writing to inform you of an important regulatory update that impacts our users from the Republic of Nigeria,” the notice stated. “Starting from July 8th, 2024, we will begin collecting a Value-Added Tax (VAT) at a rate of 7.5 percent on transaction fees in each trade for users whose KYC information is registered in Nigeria.”
The introduction of this tax follows significant growth in Nigeria’s cryptocurrency market, with an annual transaction volume of $59 billion, according to official data. Additionally, Ray Youssef, director of the cryptocurrency platform NoOnes, noted that the peer-to-peer crypto business in Nigeria is valued at $500 billion.
This regulatory move comes in the wake of concerns raised earlier this year by Olayemi Cardoso, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. In February, Cardoso highlighted a suspicious $26 billion transaction through Binance that reportedly lacked traceability.
