Nigerian authorities say cryptocurrency exchange Binance is operating without proper authorization, which has caused the value of the country's official currency to plummet, the BBC reports, citing Special Adviser to the President Bayo Onanugu, and that the government is considering fining the company up to $10 billion.
Onanugu alleges that digital asset exchanges, including Binance, are manipulating the value of Nigeria's currency, the naira, to the detriment of #Nigeria's financial stability. According to the official statement, the Central Bank has the sole authority to determine the exchange rate and such practice is illegal.
In addition, the regulator's director general, Olayemi Cardoso, raised concerns when he discovered that the equivalent of about $26 billion dollars had passed through Binance in 2023. This led to a joint investigation involving the Office of the National Security Advisor, the Central Bank and law enforcement agencies to scrutinize Binance's activities.
Recent developments on February 28, 2024 revealed that two senior officials of Binance were detained in Nigeria. Prior to this, the Nigerian Communications Commission had imposed restrictions on access to the websites of prominent cryptocurrency exchanges such as #KuCoin and Binance. As a result, Binance made changes to its #P2P service by excluding naira.
That’s it! @binance has taken off the NGN/USDT pair in P2P. pic.twitter.com/h0cjYpg1u2
— Silas⚡️ (@silasadedoyin) February 28, 2024
Despite these developments, Binance has not made an official statement in response to the allegations. The Nigerian economy is struggling, with inflation at 29.9% in January 2024.
Attempts by the central bank to stabilize the value of the naira by introducing a digital currency have failed due to limited citizen interest.
