Nigeria wants to tax crypto. Traders say it could slow business.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency traders and over-the-counter (OTC) dealers say Nigeria’s new virtual asset tax framework —which mandates a 1.5% stamp duty charge on digital assets—risks raising trading costs and potentially driving activity away from regulated exchanges and into less visible channels.
Joshua Adedeji, a Nigerian OTC bulk trader who said he processes about $500,000 worth of USDT—a dollar-backed stablecoin—weekly on cryptocurrency exchange Bybit , said the tax cost is far higher than his existing operating costs.
“Transfer charges were my biggest transaction costs before,” Adedeji said. “Now, stamp duty and other taxes [will account for] much higher costs, because th...