FG imposes $10bn fine on Binance over illegal transactions

FG imposes $10bn fine on Binance over illegal transactions

 

The Federal Government is demanding $10 billion from a crypto trading platform, Binance, as retribution for alleged illegal transactions in Nigeria.

Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser on information and strategy to President Bola Tinubu, disclosed this on Friday in an interview with the BBC.

This is coming amid a crackdown on crypto exchange platforms by the Federal Government.

Nigerian government reportedly detained two top executives of Binance in February over allegations of price manipulations.

Onanuga said during the BBC interview that Binance profited substantially from its “illegal transactions” in Nigeria while the nation suffered huge losses.

He declay that Binance is not registered in Nigeria and has no presence in the country.

He said people used the platform to arbitrarily fix dollar-naira rates.

He said the practice negatively impacted the value of the local currency.

He also noted that the Binance team was already cooperating with the Nigerian government by providing useful information, and had already suspended naira-related transactions on the platform.

Onanuga said, “The platform fixes the exchange rate in Nigeria, which is illegal. The Central Bank of Nigeria is the only authority that can fix the exchange rate for Nigeria.

“Binance harbours a lot of people who fix exchange rates which impacted the country badly at a time when the government is trying to stabilize the economy.”

The presidential aide said Binance influenced the increase in foreign exchange rates through currency speculation, which caused the Naira value to fall substantially.