The Nigerian financial landscape has reached a defining milestone. On 1 June 2026, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) officially launched the Nigeria Payments System Vision 2028 (PSV 2028) in Abuja FCT.
As an organization dedicated to fostering trust, clarity, and innovation, the Virtual Asset Service Providers Association (VASPA) extends its warmest congratulations to the Governor of the CBN and his entire leadership team. This visionary policy document marks a monumental step forward in anchoring Nigeria’s financial ecosystem for global competitiveness, sustainable economic growth, and structural resilience.
The Five Strategic Pillars of PSV 2028
The new framework outlines a highly adaptive roadmap designed to modernize payments, safeguard consumers, and foster secure ecosystem expansion. The PSV 2028 is solidly built upon five strategic pillars:
- Infrastructure Development: Upgrading and expanding the fundamental hardware and software systems that power real-time payments across the nation.
- Digital Financial Inclusion and Consumer Protection: Ensuring that secure financial tools reach unbanked and underserved populations while maintaining rigid standards of safety and transparency.
- Innovation and Emerging Technologies: Embracing next-generation software architectures and platforms to drive operational efficiency.
- Cross-Border Payments and Digital Assets: Streamlining regional and global liquidity flows and integrating digital assets into mainstream economic pathways.
- Regulation, Risk Management, and Cybersecurity: Mitigating systemic vulnerabilities, combating financial crime, and establishing stable, predictive regulatory guardrails.
Aligning Innovation with Financial Sovereignty
For VASPA, the explicit integration of Innovation, Emerging Technologies, and Digital Assets into the apex bank’s five-year strategy is a profound win for the ecosystem. It signals a progressive shift toward developmental regulation—governance that protects the financial network without stifling the builders driving economic modernization.
By acknowledging digital assets as a pillar of future cross-border payment efficiency, the CBN is positioning Nigeria to lead continental trade optimization, particularly as regional frameworks like the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) mature.
Commenting on the launch, Franklin Peters, the Executive Chair of VASPA and Founder & CEO of Boundlesspay, stated:
“The launch of PSV 2028 is a historic validation of the intersection between traditional banking architectures and emerging digital asset rails. By explicitly embedding digital assets and innovation into Nigeria’s core payment strategy, the CBN has provided a structural signal necessary to completely transition the industry into the mainstream economy.
At VASPA, we see this not just as a vision statement, but as an open invitation to build. True financial sovereignty requires collaboration, and our members stand ready to deploy the technical infrastructure, risk-mitigation frameworks, and compliance tools needed to turn this vision into active, secure execution.”
Moving Forward: A Commitment to Collaboration
A vision is only as powerful as its execution. Over the next two years, as the Central Bank transitions this framework from policy paper to live implementation, the need for deep, cross-sector alignment will be paramount.
As a trusted pan-African network bridging innovators, compliance officers, and institutional operators, VASPA is committed to partnering with the Central Bank to turn the strategic goals of PSV 2028 into reality across three critical operational frontiers:
- Regulatory Realignment via Project Green-White-Green: We seek to closely collaborate with the CBN to ensure that the virtual asset sector and the traditional banking and financial system achieve a seamless, modernized realignment. By leveraging VASPA’s Project Green-White-Green, we aim to help shape a risk-based, balanced regulatory approach that robustly safeguards the financial system while giving legitimate innovators the stable environment they need to thrive.
- Supporting the Operationalization of the CBN AML/CFT Pilot for VASPs: Guarding the integrity of Nigeria’s financial borders is a top priority. VASPA stands ready to actively support the CBN’s AML/CFT Pilot for virtual asset service providers, ensuring strict compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations. This rigorous, cooperative oversight is essential to keeping Nigeria permanently off the global grey list and consolidating our position as a transparent, secure, and globally trusted financial hub.
- Institutional Capacity Building & Stakeholder Engagement: True trust and policy clarity are built on continuous, open dialogue. VASPA will anchor periodic stakeholder engagements and deep-dive capacity-building sessions focusing on stablecoins and other emerging segments of the virtual asset marketplace. By fostering a shared technical and regulatory understanding among innovators, legacy financial institutions, and policymakers, we can significantly boost institutional capacity and regulatory trust across Nigeria.
By working together, the public regulator and private innovators can ensure that Nigeria remains Africa’s definitive launchpad for financial technology—delivering a payment ecosystem that is inclusive, secure, and globally unmatched.
About VASPA
The Virtual Asset Service Providers Association (VASPA) is a Pan-African industry body registered as an Incorporated Trustee with the Corporate Affairs Commission in Nigeria (CAC IT: 79069970) where it is headquartered. VASPA comprises individual, corporate, and institutional members from across Africa. For more information about us, please visit our website, www.vaspa.org. To become a Patron or Partner of VASPA, visit our Membership page: https://vaspa.org/become-a-member/. Individual and corporate members are also welcomed.
