CBN requires bank-name and BVN checks for P2P token trades

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) requires platforms handling peer-to-peer digital-token trades to match customers’ bank-account names and Bank Verification Numbers before releasing tokens in naira transactions.

The requirement appears in section 10 of the bank’s regulations for non-security virtual assets, which cover platform-facilitated peer-to-peer (P2P) services involving regulated tokens.

For customers, the rules mean a platform must check that the name and Bank Verification Number on the account sending or receiving the naira payment match the verified customer it represents.

Operators must keep records connecting each digital-asset transfer with its corresponding payment or settlement. Those records must identify the parties, transaction value, exchange rate, payment reference and relevant wallets or accounts.

The framework also requires customer identification and ongoing monitoring before people can trade. Providers must not knowingly allow third-party or falsely attributed accounts to conceal who is sending or receiving funds.

The P2P provisions do not cover purely private transfers between two people where nobody else facilitates or supports the transaction. The document’s definition of regulated tokens includes naira- and foreign-currency-referenced stablecoins, deposit money tokens and other tokens designated by the bank.

Platforms need express CBN approval for P2P services within the scope of their applicable licence or authorisation. Permission to offer another virtual-asset service does not, by itself, authorise P2P operations.

Sources: CBN regulations; TechCabal