December 10, (THEWILL) — The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST) for an order to freeze bank accounts and seize assets belonging to Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX) and 25 other defendants, alleging that the platform operated a massive ₦1.3 trillion Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of Nigerians.
At the Tribunal’s first sitting of the matter filed as IST/OA/02/2025: SEC & Anor v Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX) & 25 Others.
SEC accused CBEX of posing as a digital-asset and foreign-exchange investment platform without any regulatory authorisation.
The Commission said the firm lured investors with promises of up to 100 percent returns within 30 days, in direct violation of the Investments and Securities Act 2025.
According to the regulator, CBEX began to show signs of distress earlier in the year when withdrawals were abruptly blocked and investors were asked to pay additional “verification fees” of $100–$200 to access their funds.
The inability of depositors to retrieve their money sparked protests and led to the vandalisation of offices reportedly linked to the firm in cities such as Ibadan.
SEC noted that CBEX, also known as ST Technologies International Ltd and operating under various aliases, had been the subject of earlier public warnings, with the Commission repeatedly stating that the entity was unauthorised and already under investigation.
Despite this, the platform continued to collect funds from the public until its collapse in April 2025.
The Commission is now seeking an immediate freeze of all bank accounts traced to the defendants as well as forfeiture of real estate and other assets suspected to have been acquired with investors’ money.
If approved, the asset-seizure effort would be one of the largest undertaken in connection with a crypto-linked fraud case in Nigeria.
For the broader market, the development underscores the increasing regulatory scrutiny facing digital-asset operators following the enactment of ISA 2025, which expanded the SEC’s oversight of virtual-asset service providers.
Investors, analysts, and compliance experts say the CBEX case reinforces the risks posed by unregistered investment schemes, even as authorities push to sanitise the sector and restore confidence among retail investors badly hit by successive Ponzi scandals.
Ogochukwu Onwaeze
