The Federal Government has fined cryptocurrency trading firm Binance $10 billion for allegedly impacting the nation’s forex crisis.
This was revealed in an interview with the BBC on Friday by Bayo Onanuga, President Bola Tinubu’s special advisor on communication and strategy.
In Nigeria, Onanuga claims, Binance made significant profits from its “illegal transactions,” while the country sustained enormous losses.
He mentioned that Binance has no presence or registration in Nigeria.
Onanuga claims that users fixed dollar-naira exchange rates arbitrarily using the platform. He claimed that the practice had a detrimental effect on the value of the regional currency.
He added that the Binance team had already stopped naira-related transactions on the platform and was working with the Nigerian government by giving helpful information.
“The platform fixes the exchange rate in Nigeria, which is illegal,” stated Onanuga. The sole body with the authority to set Nigeria’s currency rate is the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“At a time when the government is trying to stabilize the economy, Binance harbors a lot of people who fix exchange rates, which had a bad impact on the country,” he continued.
Furthermore, the presidential advisor explicitly accused Binance of being responsible for the recent 70% decline in the naira’s value. The advisor attributed this sharp depreciation to currency speculation, alleging that it had driven up foreign exchange prices.
