Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has expressed support for stablecoin businesses that operate within the bounds of the country’s digital asset regulations.

During the Nigeria Stablecoin Summit held in Lagos, SEC Director-General Emomotimi Agama reportedly said the African country is ready to embrace blockchain-based payment innovations as long as they comply with existing laws.

He highlighted the growing relevance of stablecoins in Africa’s digital economy, where volatile local currencies have pushed many toward dollar-backed assets for stability.

Agama described Nigeria’s digital landscape as “dynamic, young, and increasingly decentralized,” pointing to how stablecoins are becoming integral to daily transactions.

Considering this, the financial regulatory chief said:

“I stand before you as both a regulator and an advocate for responsible innovation. My message today is clear: Nigeria is open for stablecoin business, but on terms that protect our markets and empower Nigerians.”

Nigeria ranks as one of the top countries for crypto adoption globally. According to data from Chainalysis, the country sits second in the world, driven by the practical use of digital currencies for remittances, commerce, and cross-border payments.

For many, stablecoins like USDT and USDC have filled a critical gap left by unreliable access to foreign currency and rising inflation.

Commenting on the SEC’s new stance, Nathaniel Luz, President of the Africa Stablecoin Network, told CryptoSlate that the announcement provides clarity that has long been needed in the emerging industry.

According to him:

“It’s a square peg in a square hole. It’s the right endorsement for the industry at this point. Up until now, so many crypto companies have treaded in the Nigerian market with great caution. Having such clarification from the DG of the SEC brings a high sigh of relief, while opening the door to foreign players.”

Meanwhile, this shift follows Nigeria’s crackdown on crypto firms last year, which included the arrest of Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan.

Since then, the authorities have moved toward structured regulation, including exploring a tax framework for crypto transactions to support national revenue efforts.

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April 9th, 2025 – Miami, FL

class=”ql-align-justify”>Everstake, a leading global non-custodial staking provider for retail and institutional clients, announces that its 0.1+ ETH Staking Solution, which enables users to stake with as little as 0.1 ETH, has undergone an independent audit by Trail of Bits.

Trail of Bits conducted a comprehensive review of several smart contracts within Everstake’s Ethereum staking protocol. The audit evaluated authentication, access controls, documentation, and transaction security. While Trail of Bits identified areas for improvement, Everstake has successfully addressed the majority of the findings, including updating its documentation.

Since staking traditionally requires 32 ETH, Everstake was among the first to lower the barrier to entry, allowing users to participate with just 0.1 ETH. For the company, client security remains a top priority, particularly as this protocol is also integrated into Wallet SDK—an open-source toolkit that enables easy staking integration for wallets. Industry leaders such as Trezor rely on this technology to provide secure and user-friendly staking experiences.

“Ensuring a seamless and secure staking experience is a top priority for Trezor. By partnering with Everstake, we provide our users with a way to receive rewards while maintaining top-tier security standards. The recent audit by Trail of Bits confirmed that Everstake’s staking infrastructure meets high-security standards, reinforcing our commitment to making staking both secure and accessible within Trezor Suite,” said Mat?j Žák, CEO at Trezor. 

“Security and accessibility go hand in hand when it comes to staking. At Everstake, we take both seriously, which is why we welcomed an independent audit by Trail of Bits. This milestone reflects our ongoing commitment to maintaining a secure platform for our users. We believe that industry-wide collaboration is key to creating a safer Web3, and we’re proud to contribute to setting higher standards in the staking ecosystem”, said Bohdan Opryshko, co-founder and COO at Everstake.

The full report of the audit is available at Trail of Bits’ GitHub.

About Trail of Bits:

Founded in 2012 by 3 expert hackers with no investment capital, Trail of Bits is the premier place for security experts to boldly advance security and address technology’s newest and most challenging risks. It has helped secure some of the world’s most targeted organizations and devices. Our combination of novel research with practical solutions reduces the security risks that our clients face from emerging technologies. Our work helps drive the security industry and the public understanding of the technology underlying our world.

About Everstake:

Everstake, founded in 2018 by blockchain engineers, is a leading global non-custodial staking provider for both institutional and retail clients, on a mission to make staking accessible to everyone. Operating across 85+ networks with 735,000+ delegators, it delivers institutional-grade infrastructure with 99.9% uptime. Everstake ensures top-tier security and compliance with SOC 2 and has completed a 3-week Trail of Bits audit of its Ethereum staking protocol (3a3fee5). Through strategic partnerships with industry leaders, Everstake strengthens the staking ecosystem and provides whitelabel staking solutions, enabling businesses to easily integrate staking into their platforms. 

Everstake is a software platform that provides infrastructure tools and resources for users but does not offer investment advice or investment opportunities, manage funds, facilitate collective investment schemes, provide financial services or take custody of, or otherwise hold or manage, customer assets. Everstake does not conduct any independent diligence on or substantive review of any blockchain asset, digital currency, cryptocurrency or associated funds. Everstake’s provision of technology services allowing a user to stake digital assets is not an endorsement or a recommendation of any digital assets by it. Users are fully and solely responsible for evaluating whether to stake digital assets.

Contact

PR Manager
Annabella Lapshyna
Everstake
marketing@everstake.one

Smart contracts are the backbone of blockchain technology, serving as self-executing agreements that automate processes and manage digital assets. They are pieces of code stored on a blockchain that execute when specific conditions are met. Upon completion, these transactions become traceable and irreversible, providing certainty to participants without the need for intermediaries. As such, they have found applications across various sectors, including finance, supply chain management, and healthcare.

However, the immutability of blockchains means that once a smart contract is deployed, it is difficult to fix any errors or vulnerabilities. This makes security a paramount concern. Over $5 billion has been lost to hacks in DeFi (Decentralized Finance) to date. In 2023 alone, over $1 billion in tokens was stolen from the DeFi sector due to smart contract weaknesses. Smart contract audits play a critical role in blockchain risk management. By thoroughly reviewing and testing smart contracts, audits identify vulnerabilities and confirm code reliability.

A smart contract audit is a comprehensive analysis of a smart contract’s code to identify security vulnerabilities, inefficient coding practices, and other potential issues. It involves a detailed review of the code, logic, architecture, and security measures of the application. The goal is to guarantee the security, reliability, and performance of decentralized applications.

During an audit, security experts examine the code for potential vulnerabilities that malicious actors could exploit. They also look for areas where the code can be improved for better efficiency and performance. Smart contract code is deployed to blockchains like Avalanche, BNB Chain, or Ethereum. Once live, these contracts can be accessed by anyone, making it crucial to resolve all vulnerabilities before launch.

Smart contract audits are essential for several reasons:

• Preventing Financial Losses: Vulnerabilities in smart contracts can lead to significant financial losses. For example, a smart contract vulnerability led to a loss of $611 million on the POLY NETWORK on BNB Chain in 20212.
• Maintaining Trust: Audits help maintain trust in blockchain systems by ensuring that smart contracts are secure and reliable.
• Legal Compliance: Unaudited contracts may risk legal issues like security flaws, regulatory breaches, and contract disputes. Exploitable flaws in unaudited contracts can lead to financial loss and liability for developers.
• Protecting User Funds: If a code vulnerability leads to the loss of user funds, these funds cannot be retrieved due to the immutable nature of blockchains.

A smart contract audit typically involves the following steps:

1. Code Review: A thorough examination of the smart contract code to identify potential vulnerabilities and coding errors.
2. Automated Analysis: Using automated tools to scan the code for common security flaws.
3. Manual Testing: Manually testing the contract’s functionality to identify vulnerabilities that automated tools may miss.
4. Security Assessment: Assessing the overall security of the smart contract and identifying potential attack vectors.
5. Draft Audit Report: Auditors prepare a draft report and share it with the dApp team. Critical vulnerabilities have to be addressed before the text is public.
6. Final Audit Report: Once the audit is completed, the auditors release a summary report that details their findings, how they were resolved, and a roadmap for resolving outstanding issues. After a comprehensive smart contract audit, projects can deploy their contracts confidently, knowing that the application’s integrity is secure and user funds are protected.

Choosing the right Smart Contract Audit company is crucial for the security of your decentralized application. Here are some factors to consider:

• Experience: Look for a company with a proven track record of auditing smart contracts.
• Expertise: The auditors should have deep knowledge of blockchain technology and smart contract security.
• Methodology: Understand the company’s audit process and ensure it is thorough and comprehensive.
• Communication: The company should be able to communicate their findings clearly and provide actionable recommendations.
• Reputation: Check the company’s reputation in the blockchain community

Smart contract audits offer several benefits:

• Improved Security: Audits help identify and fix vulnerabilities, reducing the risk of hacks and financial losses.
• Increased Trust: A clean audit report can increase user confidence in your application.
• Regulatory Compliance: Audits can help you comply with industry regulations and standards.
• Better Code Quality: Audits can identify areas where the code can be improved for better efficiency and performance.

While traditional smart contract audits are essential, modern approaches like Cantina Security Reviews offer a more flexible and efficient process. Cantina reviews provide the same level of in-depth analysis but with added flexibility and efficiency. Cantina’s team takes the lead in managing expert security reviews, utilizing top-tier researchers to detect vulnerabilities in the code and design. This proactive approach ensures that problems are caught early, saving both time and money by preventing the need for emergency fixes or patches.

The cost of a smart contract audit can vary depending on the complexity of the contract, the size of the codebase, and the reputation of the auditing company. While the cost can be significant, it is a worthwhile investment to protect your project from potentially devastating financial losses.

Several high-profile smart contract hacks have resulted in significant financial losses:

• Lendf.me (2020): $25 million lost due to incompatibility between ERC777 and DeFi smart contracts.
• POLY NETWORK (2021): $611 million lost due to an access control exploit.
• BSC Token Hub Bridge (2022): $570 million lost due to a proof verifier bug.
• Euler Finance (2023): $197 million lost due to a flashloan donate function.

These examples highlight the importance of smart contract audits in preventing financial losses.

Smart contract audits are a critical component of any blockchain project. They help identify and fix vulnerabilities, prevent financial losses, maintain trust, and comply with regulations. By investing in a smart contract audit, you can guarantee the security and reliability of your decentralized application.

To secure your decentralized applications and smart contracts, partner with a trusted Smart Contract Audit company like Codezeros. Contact us today to learn more about our comprehensive audit services and how we can help you build a more secure and reliable blockchain ecosystem.