Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has again come under fire as the Nigerian government imposes a $10 billion fine on the company. The penalty follows claims from the country’s government that Binance has aided in causing a significant devaluation of the Nigerian naira (NGN).
Nigeria Imposes $10B Fine on Binance
A recent BBC report confirmed that Bayo Onanuga, a journalist and special adviser on information & strategy for the Nigerian president, shared details about the $10 billion fine imposed on Binance. He explained that Binance allowed individuals to conduct “illegal transactions” via its trading platform.
Earlier this week, Binance’s peer-to-peer (P2P) went offline for the NGN currency. The government alleged that Nigerian P2P traders on Binance set the exchange rate for the USD/NGN pair. Last week, for example, $1 traded for over ₦1,800. Notably, a rebalance has occurred since Binance’s P2P feature for Nigerians was disabled, causing $1 to trade for around ₦1,600.
Onanuga explained to BBC that these actions by Nigerian crypto traders on Binance and other factors have triggered a nearly 70% naira crash over the past few months. He added that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the country’s sovereign bank, is the only entity qualified to fix the exchange rate against any foreign currency.
Stressing Binance’s fault in the whole matter, the renowned journalist stated:
“Binance platform harbours people who fix the exchange rate which quickly affects the Nigerian economy for the time when Nigeria is trying to stabilize the economy.”
During a recent meeting, the CBN governor Olayemi Cardoso revealed that Nigerians have traded $26 billion through the Binance P2P in a year.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time the leading cryptocurrency exchange will be fined billions of dollars by a country’s government. A few months ago, Binance was penalized a whopping $4.3 billion by the U.S. authorities over criminal offences. Its founder, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), stepped down from being CEO as part of the settlement.
Nigerian Government Arrests Two Binance Officials
A Financial Times report revealed that two senior Binance officials were recently arrested, and their passports were confiscated.
These officials flew into Nigeria last week when the government placed an embargo on crypto trading websites. Until now, the ban remains active.
