Nigeria’s cryptocurrency dealings have exploded in size, with transactions totalling over N75 trillion ($50 billion) between July 2023 and June 2024, according to Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) Director-General Emomotimi Agama.
Speaking at the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, Agama said this staggering volume of crypto-transactions underscores a potent but mischannelled risk appetite among Nigerians and poses a direct challenge to the country’s traditional capital market.
Agama highlighted the figure during his presentation of the lead paper titled “Evaluating the Nigerian Capital Market Masterplan 2015-2025”. He noted that while the crypto space is booming, fewer than 4 per cent of Nigeria’s adult population are active in the conventional capital market.
This juxtaposition paints a striking picture. Nigerians are clearly willing to engage in high-risk financial activity, yet many avoid structured investment vehicles.
Agama lamented that less than three million Nigerians are registered as capital-market participants, while more than 60 million reportedly engage daily in gambling activities, wagering an estimated $5.5 million every day.
There is a risk appetite among Nigerians, but it is not directed towards traditional investment channels.
According to Agama, the crypto numbers reflect a class of investors with both financial sophistication and appetite for risk, but the traditional capital market has so far failed to reach them. He described the situation as a “paradox”.
“An appetite for risk clearly exists, but not the trust or access to channel that energy into productive investment.”
The implications are significant. Nigeria’s market capitalisation-to-GDP ratio stands at roughly 30 per cent, a figure far below South Africa’s 320 per cent, Malaysia’s 123 per cent and India’s 92 per cent, Agama pointed out.
The mismatch suggests that although vast sums are moving in financial channels, the formal investment ecosystem is underperforming, leaving infrastructure and enterprise financing undercapitalised.
Agama further observed that the ambitious Capital Market Masterplan (CMMP), meant to span 2015-2025, has delivered less than half of its 108 outlined initiatives, citing weak alignment with national development plans, inadequate tracking metrics, and low stakeholder ownership as key obstacles.
The significance of the N75 trillion ($50 billion) crypto-transaction figure cannot be overemphasised. It signals not just volume but momentum in a country where the formal equity market has wrestled with low retail enrolment, lack of diversity, and concentrated liquidity in only a handful of large-cap stocks.
Why Nigerians Chose Crypto Over the Capital Market
Agama’s remarks highlight how crypto, though loosely regulated relative to traditional markets, is tapping into investor behaviours that the mainstream system has not captured.
The data also raises broader questions for policymakers, regulators and market designers. Why are millions of Nigerians bypassing the stock market? What structural barriers, whether regulatory, educational, cultural or technological, are preventing them from channelling their risk appetite into equity, debt or enterprise investment? And how can the country convert this vibrant speculative energy into productive capital formation that supports growth?
Another dimension is trust. Millions are comfortable transacting in volatile digital assets but hesitate to engage in listed markets, suggesting that the formal corner of Nigeria’s finance ecosystem lacks market governance, transparency, accessibility, and investor education.
Agama’s call for a “re-imagined SEC” that serves not just as a regulator but as an enabler, building trust, transparency and inclusion, is a direct response to that challenge.
As Nigeria grapples with an estimated $150 billion annual infrastructure financing gap, and only a fraction of that being channelled through public-private partnership bonds, the role of a deep, vibrant capital market becomes ever more critical, yet remains underutilised.
Ultimately, the narrative is unambiguous. The risk-taking spirit of Nigerians is alive and well; it’s just landing in crypto rather than the corporate financial market. Bridging that gap will require regulatory clarity, investor education, technology access and, above all, a capital market that feels accessible, trustworthy and rewarding.
For Nigeria’s finance sector, the challenge is no longer about identifying willing investors; they are clearly there. The challenge is converting that willingness into a structured, productive investment that drives long-term value for both the investor and the economy.