Nigerian government demands $10B from Binance exchange
$10 Billion fines imposed on Binance crypto exchange by the Nigerian government agencies.
The Nigerian population is fond of cryptocurrencies. In 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) imposed a crypto transactions & crypto banking ban in the country but still citizens were trading cryptocurrencies via P2P trading methods via multiple crypto trading platforms. However CBN banned cryptocurrencies but they failed to impose any restrictions, unlike China.
On 1 March 2024, In an interview with BBC, Bayo Onanuga, a special advisor to President Bola Tinubu, said that the Nigerian government has fined the top crypto exchange Binance $10 billion, as the exchange generated huge profits from crypto trading services in the country illegally.
In the past few months, the Nigerian government’s stance on the crypto sector changed drastically. The country had detained Binance executives earlier this week as it sought a large crackdown on unpaid taxes from unregistered exchanges.
In Dec 2023, CBN announced an unban decision on Crypto transactions in the country but maintained crypto banking ban measures, which were imposed in 2021.
At the time people considered that the Nigerian government was probably planning to legalise cryptocurrencies in the country, to protect the crypto investors.
Just a week ago, Nigeria restricted the access of major crypto exchanges, including Binance, OctaFX, and Coinbase.
In the present time, the majority of Nigerian crypto traders are using these restricted platforms via VPN services.
It is worth it to note that the Nigerian government imposed restrictions on the decentralised non-custodial crypto wallets also.
Popular self-custody crypto wallet Trust wallet users reported that they are failing to transfer Bitcoin in Nigeria.
Some Nigerian crypto proponents showed their disappointment against the Nigerian government and said that their harsh actions against the crypto sector are going to destroy the future of the country.
Read also: Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo Affiliates to Provide Bitcoin Spot ETF to Customers
