Tinubu’s Govt Slams $10 Billion Fine On Binance
Binance, a cryptocurrency trading platform, has been hit with a hefty $10 billion fine by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, confirmed the latest development during an interview with BBC on Friday (today).
According to Onanuga, the reason behind this substantial fine is Binance’s involvement in illicit activities that have significantly contributed to the devaluation of Nigeria’s currency, the naira, in recent times.
He pointed out that Binance has been setting unauthorized exchange rates for the country, a responsibility that solely belongs to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Onanuga stressed that Binance’s actions, such as sheltering individuals responsible for manipulating exchange rates, have had a swift and negative impact on Nigeria’s economy during its stabilization efforts.
While acknowledging Binance’s cooperation in providing information to the government, Onanuga expressed concerns about the platform’s potential to destabilize the Nigerian economy if not properly regulated.
It is worth noting that President Tinubu’s government has been increasing its efforts to restrict Binance’s activities in the country, resulting in Binance removing the naira from its P2P market.
This platform allows users to conduct transactions without any intermediaries.
As part of the government’s crackdown, two Binance employees were arrested recently by the National Security Adviser’s office in Abuja, headed by Nuhu Ribadu, to investigate the operations of the cryptocurrency exchange in Nigeria.
The government’s objective is to combat naira speculation and combat the currency’s devaluation by taking strong actions against cryptocurrency exchanges.
During a recent meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the Governor of the apex bank, Olayemi Cardoso, revealed that an astonishing $26 billion had flowed through Binance Nigeria from unidentified sources and users within a year.
The CBN governor raised concerns about suspicious financial transactions and illegal activities linked to cryptocurrency entities like Binance.
