The CBN has launched an AML/CFT supervision pilot for six virtual asset service providers. Two of them are Flutterwave and Paystack. That choice tells you more than the press release does.
On March 31, 2026, the Central Bank of Nigeria published a press release announcing the commencement of an AML/CFT/CPF Supervision Pilot for a select group of virtual asset service providers. The six entities named in the first phase are cNGN, Flutterwave, Juicyway, KoinKoin, KuCoin, and Paystack.
KuCoin is a global crypto exchange. KoinKoin and Juicyway are crypto-native Nigerian platforms. cNGN is a naira-denominated stablecoin. Those four inclusions make sense on the surface of it. Flutterwave and Paystack are payment companies. That is where the story is.
What the Pilot actually is
The CBN is careful about what it calls this. It is not a licencing programme. It is not a regulatory approval. The press release is explicit: participation does not confer any regulatory status, licencing right, or authorisation on participating entities.
What it is:
A structured supervisory engagement in which the CBN gets a controlled look at how these entities handle AML/CFT/CPF risks, what their business models actually look like up close, and whether they are ready for FATF compliance, specifically FATF Recommendations 15 and 16, which govern how VASPs must handle the Travel Rule.
The Travel Rule requires VASPs to collect and transmit originator and beneficiary information on transfers above a certain threshold, a standard most Nigerian platforms have not yet built for.
Participating entities must submit monthly KPI reports using CBN templates, undergo reviews of their governance, customer onboarding, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, and cross-border activity, and demonstrate credible implementation plans for the Travel Rule. These are the foundations of a compliance infrastructure.
The CBN is not licencing Flutterwave and Paystack as VASPs. It is examining them as if they already are.
Why Flutterwave and Paystack are on this list
Neither Flutterwave nor Paystack is primarily a crypto company. Both hold switching and processing licences from the CBN. Both have built their reputations on card payment infrastructure, bank transfers, and merchant acquiring. Neither has publicly positioned itself as a virtual asset service provider.
So why are they here?
Flutterwave announced a partnership with Polygon Labs in October 2025 to build a stablecoin-based cross-border payment product targeting enterprises first, then consumer remittances. The product would use USDC as the primary settlement asset and integrate with Flutterwave’s Send App and Flutterwave for Business. That product, if launched, would make Flutterwave a transacting party in virtual assets at scale across 34 African markets.
Paystack’s exposure is less direct but no less relevant. The company operates Zap, a consumer wallet product for which the CBN fined it N250 million in 2025 for operating outside its switching and processing licence.
Paystack has since acquired Ladder Microfinance Bank, partly to address the licencing gap. But the cross-border dimension of its infrastructure, particularly dollar settlement flows and its position inside the Stripe network, touches virtual asset adjacency in ways that AML supervisors care about.
The CBN’s inclusion of both companies in a VASP supervision pilot is a regulatory signal:
It does not matter what licence you hold or what you call your product. If your infrastructure touches virtual asset flows, or if your product roadmap is moving toward them, the CBN is treating you as a VASP for supervisory purposes.
The reclassification no one announced
Under the Investments and Securities Act 2025, the SEC is the primary licencing authority for VASPs in Nigeria. Virtual assets are now classified as securities under Section 357 of the Act. The SEC has introduced new VASP licence categories and is processing applications, slowly, with only a handful of provisional licences issued since 2024.
The CBN, by contrast, has mandate over banking system integrity, cross-border payments, and AML/CFT compliance under the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022, the CBN Act, and BOFIA 2020. Its pilot does not claim to supersede SEC’s licencing authority. The press release says so explicitly.
But in practice, the CBN is doing something the SEC is not: it is actively engaging with the payment companies whose infrastructure underpins most of Nigeria’s dollar flows, and it is doing so through a virtual asset supervision framework. The functional result is that Flutterwave and Paystack are now operating under virtual asset supervisory scrutiny regardless of what their primary licences say.
The CBN pilot sits inside an unresolved question about who actually regulates Nigerian fintechs that touch virtual assets. The SEC has primary VASP licencing authority under ISA 2025. The CBN has AML/CFT supervisory authority over the banking system and payment infrastructure. The NFIU sits alongside both with its own financial intelligence mandate. The press release mentions the NFIU directly, noting participating entities must engage with both the CBN and the NFIU where applicable.
For fintech founders and operators, this matters beyond the six companies named. The CBN has described the pilot as structured in multiple phases, with subsequent phases already fully scheduled.
The next wave of inclusions is already decided. Any fintech building a dollar product, a stablecoin rail, a cross-border wallet, or a remittance platform with crypto settlement should read this pilot as a preview of where they are heading.
Technext reached out to Flutterwave and Paystack for comment on their inclusion in the pilot and will update this piece with any responses received.
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