Nigeria approves tokenized assets for NASD OTC market rollout
The Securities and Exchange Commission cleared tokenized asset issuance for NASD, which plans to launch the service next month with Blockstation’s blockchain infrastructure.
Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission has approved tokenized asset issuance, paving the way for NASD PLC to roll out the service next month. NASD, an alternative investment trading platform, is working with Canada-based Blockstation Inc. to provide blockchain infrastructure for near-real-time listing and trading of tokenized securities. Chinwendu Ekeh, NASD's acting managing director, said the firm is targeting Nigerian small and medium-sized enterprises that struggle to access bank lending and traditional capital markets, arguing that digital securities offer a faster, cheaper and more reliable financing route. The move extends Nigeria's broader push into tokenized markets after earlier approval for NASD to develop digital tokens backed by real-world assets.
- tokenized securities: Traditional securities represented as digital tokens on a blockchain and traded through token-based market infrastructure.
- digital securities: Securities issued or represented in digital form, often to streamline fundraising, settlement and trading.
- real-world assets: Traditional assets that are represented digitally for issuance or trading.