The Federal Court of Abuji has ordered the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, to provide the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of Nigeria (EFCC) with information about all Nigerian users of their platform.
This decision is part of an effort to curb speculation with the national currency – Nyra. Several crypto exchanges were blocked in Nigeria a month ago due to concerns that trading on cryptocurrency sites was undermining the stability of the Nyra and leading to an uncontrolled market course.
In addition, the commission suspects that criminals may be using the Binance platform to launder illegal income. There are even allegations that Binance may be financing terrorism. Investigators claim to have information about potential violations but have not provided details. The transfer of data from Binance Nigeria will assist the commission in gathering evidence.
Two top managers at Binance, American Tigran Gambaryan and British citizen Nadim Andzharvalla, are currently detained without charges. They were detained on February 26 in Nigeria and are only allowed to use phones to communicate with lawyers and family. A court session is scheduled for Wednesday, and the EFCC has filed a request to extend the detention of the top managers.
Following the detention of its employees, Binance has suspended operations in Nigeria. Office transactions and the exchange of Nyra for bitcoin and stablecoin Tether have been halted.
Earlier, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, expressed concerns that cryptocurrencies are being fueled by speculation and enabling illegal financial flows. He stated that over $26 billion from unidentified users passed through the Binance Nigeria platform in the last year.