Two top executives at Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform, have been detained in Nigeria, Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the report says the executives flew into Nigeria following the government’s decision to ban several crypto platforms but were detained by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu with their passports seized.
With the naira’s continuous devaluation against the dollar and other foreign currencies, the Nigerian government is going after cryptocurrency trading websites, which it accuses of manipulating the country’s foreign exchange market, crippling dollar shortages.
The Nigerian government obtained a court warrant to detain the officials for at least twelve days for failing to meet some of the demands by the authorities in a meeting, according to Premium Times.
The authorities were demanding to see a list of Binance’s Nigerian users since its inception and data relating to transactions in naira on the trading platform in the last seven years, but the officials declined.
In response to the detention of its executives, Binance has discontinued the trading of the naira against bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on its website.
Bayo Onanuga, a special adviser to President Tinubu, said the authorities went after Binance because it “hijacked the role of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).”
“We were told that if we don’t clampdown on Binance, Binance will destroy the economy of this country. They just fix the rate. It is a sabotage,” Onanuga said in an interview with Channels TV on Wednesday night.
Earlier on Tuesday, the CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso accused Binance of illicit activities.
In his words, “We are concerned that certain practices go on that indicate illicit flows going through a number of these entities (crypto trading sites) and suspicious flows at best. In the case of Binance, in the last one year alone, $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify.”
Cardoso added that he was collaborating with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the police, and the National Security Adviser, NSA, to “protect Nigerians” against market manipulation.
Ezinwanne Onwuka, senior staff reporter and columnist with WAP is a Nigerian-based writer and content developer. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Her interests include reading, writing, researching and graphic designing.
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