Nigerian authorities have reportedly requested multiple types of financial data from crypto exchange Binance and many people speculated that Binance will be hit with a huge fine.
Binance is a top-tier crypto exchange. Today, this exchange faces major legal hurdles in the jurisdiction of Nigeria. Last month, Nigerian government authorities restricted access to Binance’s crypto services and in return, Binance also terminated any form of Nigerian fiat Naira-related financial services to comply with government orders.
On March 13, 2024, The Financial Times reported that Nigerian authorities had ordered the Binance team to provide the data of the top 100 local customers and the complete financial data of the Binance exchange in Nigeria for the past six months.
The report also notes that the office of the Nigerian National Security Advisor has asked the Binance team to resolve any outstanding tax liabilities.
All these developments are part of negotiations between Binance and the Nigerian government over the bad impact of Binance’s crypto service on the country’s sovereign fiat currency Naira.
Earlier this month, Bayo Onanuga, the Presidential Advisor on Information and Strategy, called for a ban on Binance-like crypto exchanges as such exchanges seriously erode the value of the Naira.
Currently, two Binance executives, Gambaryan and Anjarwalla, are under the custody of the Nigerian Police in this case.
Reportedly, Binance’s detained executives have disclosed a lot of internal information about the exchange and the results of the interrogation will soon be made public.
Last week, many local media reports claimed that Binance Exchange was planning to exit the Nigerian crypto market, but countering such reports, a Binance executive said in a interview that they have no intention of leaving the Nigerian market.
Today, the majority of crypto traders in Nigeria use Telegram and WhatsApp-like platforms to buy and sell crypto assets, P2P.
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