The Federal Government may have detained two senior executives of Binance, a crypto currency exchange company.
It was reported that both executives flew into Nigeria last week following a ban on their website and were arrested by officials of the office of the National Security Adviser and their passports seized.
The arrest came amidst efforts by the government to rein in speculation on the naira by cracking down on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Nigeria is one of the largest peer-to-peer crypto markets in the world. Between July 2022 and June 2023, crypto transactions in the country reached $56.7bn, according to Chainalysis.
Recently, the government through the Nigerian Communications Commission blocked the online platforms of Binance, an online exchange where users can trade cryptocurrencies and other crypto firms to avert what it considers continuous manipulation of the forex market and illicit movement of funds.
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It also sent operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to arrest Bureau De Change operators at the Popular Wuse Zone 4 in Abuja.
At a press briefing on Tuesday, the Governor of the CBN, Olayemi Cardoso, named Binance while discussing the funds flowing through crypto exchanges.
“We are concerned that certain practices go on that indicate illicit flows going through a number of these crypto platforms and suspicious flows at best,”
“In the case of Binance, in the last one year alone, $26bn has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify,” he added.
Cardoso maintained that Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, police and national security adviser were conducting an investigation into cryptocurrency exchanges.
The authorities were demanding to see a list of Binance’s Nigerian users since its inception, a person familiar with the matter said.
In June 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission said the operation of Binance Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Binance, was illegal.
