The Federal Government of Nigeria has reportedly detained two senior executives of Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange company.
According to a report by the Financial Times, both executives arrived in Nigeria last week after their website was banned and were subsequently arrested by officials from the office of the National Security Adviser, who also seized their passports.
Binance operates as an online exchange platform where users can trade various cryptocurrencies.
Nigeria stands as one of the largest peer-to-peer crypto markets globally, with crypto transactions reaching $56.7 billion between July 2022 and June 2023, according to Chainalysis.
The arrests come amid the government’s efforts to curb speculation on the naira by clamping down on cryptocurrency exchanges. Recently, the Nigerian Communications Commission blocked the online platforms of Binance and other crypto firms to prevent what it views as continued manipulation of the forex market and illicit fund movements.
Additionally, operatives from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission were dispatched to arrest Bureau De Change operators at Wuse Zone 4 in Abuja.
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, mentioned Binance while discussing suspicious funds flows through crypto exchanges.
“We are concerned about certain practices that indicate illicit flows through some of these crypto platforms and suspicious flows at best,” Cardoso stated.
“In the case of Binance, over the past year alone, $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users that we cannot adequately identify,” he added.
Cardoso further revealed that Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, police, and national security adviser were jointly investigating cryptocurrency exchanges, with authorities requesting a list of Binance’s Nigerian users since its establishment.
In June 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission declared the operations of Binance Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Binance, as illegal.
In related developments, Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, recently shared reports on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), indicating support for actions against Binance and other crypto platforms operating in Nigeria.
Efforts from Zakari Mijinyawa, Head of Strategic Communication at the Office of the National Security Adviser, to confirm the detention were unsuccessful as he did not respond to messages.
Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga warned that Binance’s activities could harm the Nigerian economy by manipulating foreign exchange rates.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, Onanuga emphasized the need to curb Binance’s influence, stating, “If we don’t clamp down on Binance, Binance will destroy the economy of this country. They just fix the rate.”
He urged Nigerians to cease patronizing the parallel market for foreign exchange rates, emphasizing that the official website of the Central Bank of Nigeria is the only legal platform for forex transactions.
