The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Olayemi Cardoso recently disclosed that over $26 billion in illegal transactions have passed through the crypto platform Binance in one year.
He made this disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja at the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the Apex Bank, amid the significant fall of the Naira and clampdown on BDC operators in Nigeria.
Cardoso concerned about the transactions on the crypto exchange, disclosed that these transactions were majorly from sources and users who cannot be identified adequately.
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In his words,
“We are concerned that certain practices go on that indicate flows, going through a number of these entities and suspicious flows. In the case of Binance, in the last year, $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot identify”.
The CBN governor further added that the Apex Bank has a responsibility to protect Nigeria, as well as investors, noting that the bank is collaborating with other arms of government and agencies to address the issue.
He said,
“There is a lot that is going on now as a result of collaboration between the different agencies which include the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission), the police, and of course the office of the NSA (National Security Adviser), and in due course as we progress and have more information to share, we will certainly share, and suffice to say we are determined to do everything it takes to ensure that we take charge of our market or put it differently.
“Do not allow others to manipulate our market in a way that ends up distortionary and sub-optimizes for all Nigerians. We will not accept it and we will do everything possible to prevent any of these kinds of infractions from taking place”.
Recall that the CBN had accused Binance of manipulating the country’s fiat currency, the Nigerian naira, which according to the apex bank is contributing to the ongoing decline of the currency in the forex market.
In a post titled “The Naira-Dollar Manipulators,” special adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga accused Nigerians of being unpatriotic when trading on the Binance platform. Onanuga mentioned that Binance is under regulatory scrutiny in several countries and should not be granted the authority to determine the value of the naira on its crypto exchange platform.
He therefore called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to halt the operations of cryptocurrency exchanges in the country quickly.
In response to the accusation, Binance via a blogpost distanced itself from the ongoing forex debacle in Nigeria, stating that the platform is market-driven and not intended to be a proxy for currency pricing in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, in a recent development, crypto users in Nigeria have reported difficulty accessing different crypto exchange websites, including Binance, OctaFX, and others. This development arose on the evening of Feb. 21, with speculation of a possible government ban on crypto platforms.
Reacting to this Binance responded in an email to users, stating that it is aware of the situation and clarified that the issue only affected the online platform and that the Binance app is still functional. The exchange assured users that it is actively engaging with regulators to foster an open, transparent dialogue about managing the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency in the country.
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