New Onboarding Manual for Digital and VASP owners-SEC
By Patience Ikpeme
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set up a manual licensing and registration of Digital and VASP beneficial owners.
This new manual, is to prevent criminals from registering as operators in the capital market.
The manual is called the AML/CFT/CPF onboarding manual, which stands for Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Financing of Terrorism/Counter Proliferation Financing.
This manual, will be used to screen Digital and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP), beneficial owners during licensing and registration, as well as ongoing screening.
In simpler terms, this means that the SEC wants to make sure that bad people don’t get involved in buying or selling digital assets like cryptocurrencies.
They have developed rules and regulations that VASPs must follow when registering with them.
The SEC has been working with other organizations, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria, to make sure these rules are clear and fair for everyone involved.
The SEC is also collating all relevant rules and regulations they have issued about digital assets and VASPs so that potential applicants can easily find them.
In September 2020, SEC released information about how they will regulate different types of digital assets like tokens traded on recognized exchanges or securities, then in May 2022, they issued specific regulations for Virtual Assets Service Providers (VASPs).
These include requirements for issuing digital assets as securities, offering platforms for trading these assets, exchanges where people can buy and sell them safely, and custodians who hold onto them securely.
Also in April 2023, the SEC issued procedures for implementing targeted financial sanctions against terrorist individuals or entities. Overall it’s important to understand that the SEC is trying to protect investors by making sure anyone involved in buying or selling digital assets follows their rules fairly.
