The crypto trading platform Binance has been slammed with a $10 billion fine by the Federal Government of Nigeria over allegations of contributing to the country’s forex crisis.
The special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this in an interview with the BBC on Friday.
He alleged that Binance profited substantially from its “illegal transactions” in Nigeria while the nation suffered huge losses.
Onanuga noted that Binance is not registered in Nigeria and has no presence in the country.
He claimed that people used the platform to arbitrarily fix dollar-naira rates, saying the practice negatively impacted the value of the local currency.
According to him, Binance team was already cooperating with the Nigerian government by providing useful information, and had already suspended naira-related transactions on the platform.
The presidential aide said, “The platform fixes the exchange rate in Nigeria, which is illegal. The Central Bank of Nigeria is the only authority that can fix the exchange rate for Nigeria.
“Binance harbours a lot of people who fix exchange rates which impacted the country badly at a time when the government is trying to stabilize the economy,” he added.
Onanuga added that Binance influenced the increase in foreign exchange rates through currency speculation, which caused the Naira value to fall by almost 70% in recent months.
cpcnews.org 