Bayo Onanuga, Special Advisor to the President of Nigeria, recently stated that the government is demanding at least $10 billion in compensation from Binance to offset the significant economic losses caused by currency manipulation.
Since assuming office in May last year, President Bola Tinubu has been actively promoting market reforms in Nigeria. For example, the fixed exchange rate system has been abolished to attract foreign investment and revitalize the economy. In the face of significant devaluation of the Naira and soaring inflation rates, many people have turned to cryptocurrency trading platforms.
However, Bayo Onanuga, the Special Advisor to the President, accused these exchanges of manipulating exchange rates last week and urged relevant authorities to take action. Subsequently, the Nigerian Communications Commission instructed telecommunications companies to block major exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken on February 21.
Bayo Onanuga further stated in an interview with BBC yesterday that the Nigerian government is demanding at least $10 billion in compensation from Binance to offset the economic losses. He emphasized that Binance’s manipulation of Nigeria’s exchange rate is illegal, and the central bank is the only institution authorized to set exchange rates.
After Nigeria’s decision to ban several cryptocurrency exchange websites last week, two executives from Binance flew to Nigeria and were subsequently detained and had their passports confiscated by the country’s Security Advisor’s office. Zakari Mijinyawa, Head of the Office of the National Security Advisor, stated that these executives are under investigation.
Mijinyawa also mentioned that discussions and agreements are underway with Binance officials, and they are cooperating. However, he did not disclose detailed information about the duration of the investigation or the discussions between the government and Binance.
Following the detention of Binance executives, Binance also temporarily suspended trading pairs of Bitcoin/Naira and USDT/Naira.
Olayemi Cardoso, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, expressed concerns on Wednesday that illegal funds are circulating through many cryptocurrency trading platforms. For Binance alone, there have been up to $26 billion in untraceable funds flowing through Nigerian platforms in the past year.
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