Kelvin Bowoto
The federal government has asked Binance, a cryptocurrency trading firm, for information on its top 100 Nigerian customers as well as all transaction data from the previous six months. According to the Financial Times, a request has been made to begin negotiations between Binance and Nigeria. According to the report, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) asked the exchange to handle any outstanding tax problems in the country.
In recent weeks, the Federal Government has cracked down on Binance for allegedly undermining its efforts to support the local currency, the naira. The conflict between the government and Binance began when Bayo Onanuga, President Bola Tinubu’s special assistant on information and strategy, stated that Binance and other cryptocurrency platforms should be banned from functioning in Nigeria.
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He claimed that Binance was “blatantly setting the exchange rate for Nigeria” and taking over the work of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). A few days after Onanuga’s testimony, CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso revealed $26 billion was transferred through Binance from anonymous sources. Cardoso stated that the central bank, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and security agencies are working together to prevent manipulation in the foreign exchange (FX) market.
Following claims that the government requested $10 billion in punishment for benefiting from “its illegal transactions” in Nigeria, the cryptocurrency firm suspended all naira transactions on its exchange platform on March 8. Meanwhile, according to Financial Times reporting, the ONSA has requested that the exchange settle any overdue tax bills.
Techrectory with Agency Report.
