FX CRISIS: Nigeria slams $10bn fine on Binance

The Nigerian government has slammed a $10 billion fine on the global cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance, saying the country has incurred massive losses due to the platform’s activities.

This figure is significantly higher than the $4.3 billion the firm was fined by the US government for violations of anti-money laundering and sanctions laws which led to the resignation of Changpeng Zhao as the Chief Executive Officer of the platform.

Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser On Information And Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, made the penalty known Friday morning in an interview with the BBC.

According to Onanuga, Binance benefitted substantially from its “illegal transactions” in Nigeria while the nation suffered huge losses, he disclosed during the interview, which was monitored in Lagos.

READ ALSO:Cardoso says $26bn from unknown sources passed through Binance Nigeria in one year

Binance has been drawing flak from the Nigerian government in recent days. Earlier on Tuesday, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, had dropped a bombshell that illicit flows in the form of crypto exchanges worth $26 billion passed through Binance.

Also, a presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga recently said that Binance will destroy the Nigerian economy by arbitrarily fixing foreign exchange rate if the platform is not checked.

Binance has also been flagged in several countries including UK, Japan, Canada and Singapore for flouting regulatory framework and causing disruptions in the currency market.

In the US alone, the platform was made to pay $4.3 billion for violations of anti-money laundering and sanctions laws leading to the resignation of Changpeng Zhao as the Chief Executive Officer of the platform.

In June 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the operation of Binance Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Binance, was illegal.

Earlier, the Nigerian government had detained two Binance Holdings Ltd. executives, days after the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Governor, Olayemi Cardoso disclosed that the nation was losing out on taxes from unregistered crypto exchanges platforms.

The two were intercepted by national security officers after arriving in the country on the grounds that Binance operates illegally in Nigeria.

By Babajide Okeowo

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now