Nigeria made $276 million taxing digital payments. Crypto withdrawals are next

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Nigeria has doubled revenue from the electronic money transfer levy (EMTL) tax after enforcing compliance on fintechs. The government is now moving to extend the same levy to crypto withdrawals.

EMTL collections rose to ₦392.78 billion ($276.29 million) in the first 11 months of 2025, up from ₦189.52 billion ($133.31 million) in the same period of 2024, according to aggregated Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Extending the levy to crypto reflects how the government sees crypto as a scalable source of predictable revenue, where compliance can turn everyday withdrawals into a steady cash flow for the state, stripping away the opacity that once shielded these transactions.

Extending EMTL, now stamp duty, to crypto withdrawals forms part of the country’s medium-term budget planning, with total revenue from this levy expected to hit ₦456.07 billion ($320.81 million) in 2026, ₦579.82 billion ($407.86 million) in 2027, and ₦752.45 billion ($529.29 million) in 2028, according to budget projections.

Introduced under the Finance Act 2020 as an amendment to the Stamp Duties Act, the EMTL imposes a ₦50 ($0.035) levy on electronic transfers of ₦10,000 ($7.03) and above. For years, enforcement focused largely on banks, even as fintechs’ share of Nigeria’s digital payments grew.

Five years after stamp duties were scrapped, the EMTL has now been replaced, again, by stamp duty under the Nigeria Tax Act (NTA) 2025. The law expands the scope of the levy to cover chargeable instruments, including electronic receipts, certificates, and electronic tagging.

For transfers, it shifted the ₦50 liability away from funds received to funds sent. From 2026, the cost shifts to the sender, reversing the previous model where receivers paid. 

Crypto withdrawals are now being brought into compliance. Several crypto exchanges, including Quidax, Palremit, and Juicyway, have notified users that stamp duty will now apply to naira withdrawals in 2026.

“We’d like to share a quick update regarding recent changes under the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 and how they affect your Quidax withdrawals,” Quidax told customers in an email on January 15, 2025. “Going forward, a ₦50 stamp duty charge will apply to any withdrawal of ₦10,000 or more.”

This move follows growing regulatory attention on crypto. Nigeria received an estimated $92.1 billion in crypto value between July 2024 and June 2025, placing it among the largest crypto markets globally. As the government seeks to raise its tax-to-GDP ratio from under 10% to 18% by 2027, crypto has become harder to ignore.

Earlier in January, TechCabal reported that regulators plan to make crypto transactions more traceable by linking accounts to Tax Identification Numbers (TIN) and National Identification Numbers (NIN). Applying stamp duty to withdrawals further integrates crypto into the formal tax system.

How it will work

Stamp duty is a flat ₦50 fee charged on transfers above ₦10,000 ($7.03), with the sender bearing the cost. It will now apply to most crypto-to-naira withdrawals.  

On Quidax, a crypto exchange, the charge applies to Naira withdrawals of ₦10,000 and above, but not to deposits. “The ₦50 stamp duty is not a Quidax withdrawal fee, but a new tax levy, and Quidax currently does not charge a withdrawal fee,” the company clarified in its email to customers.

For Juicyway, a fintech company that provides a unified solution for collecting payments in fiat and cryptocurrencies, all naira payouts, regardless of amount, now attract a ₦150 ($0.11) flat service charge, which includes a service fee and the ₦50 stamp duty; a 7.5% value-added tax (VAT) is charged on the ₦150 ($0.11) fee. This brings the total withdrawal cost to ₦161.25 ($0.113).

Impact on users

For some crypto traders, the extra charge could change how they convert crypto to naira.

“Yes, it will cause a behavioural change, but Nigerians always find a way to adapt,” said Tolu Makinde, a Lagos-based crypto trader. “While ₦50 might not seem like much, some people still see it as an extra cost.”

Uche Ani, another Lagos-based crypto trader, noted that users are very cost-sensitive, especially in peer-to-peer markets where margins are thin. 

This added cost may shift some crypto traders’ activities off exchanges to direct sales.

“This will expose traders to do business away from exchange platforms,” Rume Ophi, financial analyst and convener of Decentralised Nigeria, an annual Web3 conference, said. “Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin can be traded P2P rather than using an exchange that will charge you for liquidating to fiat and charge you again for sending fiat.”

Others downplay the impact.

“There is no serious crypto user who cares about ₦50,” said Kassy Olisakwe, a blockchain engineer. “On-chain fees and price volatility dwarf that cost.”

Some local crypto platforms intend to absorb the levy to stay competitive.

Tirra (formerly Azawire), a Nigerian digital banking company integrating blockchain-powered solutions, for instance, says it will not charge stamp duty on withdrawals for now. “We are solving this in the interim as long as funds remain in crypto, while regulations around crypto taxation are still evolving,” said Emmanuel Onyo, its chief executive officer.

According to Onyo, Tirra’s margins are around 0.5%, and absorbing the ₦50 fee wipes out roughly 68% of that margin. “Customers prefer platforms where they are not hit with extra charges,” he said.

Stamp duty is the latest in a series of attempts to tax crypto activity in Nigeria. In July 2024, KuCoin, a global crypto platform, began charging 7.5% VAT on transaction fees. Under the Nigeria Tax Act 2025, crypto profits are now subject to personal income tax, and non-compliant virtual asset service providers face fines starting at ₦10 million.

By contrast, exchange tokens are not yet subject to stamp duties in the UK. HMRC does not classify exchange tokens as money or currency, meaning they fall outside the scope of stamp duty.

While Nigeria’s new tax laws are its most comprehensive yet, questions remain about how wide their reach will be, and how much additional friction they may add to everyday digital transactions.