Bayo Onanuga, a special adviser to the Nigerian president on information and strategy, has refuted rumors surrounding a purported $10 billion fine imposed on crypto exchange Binance. Onanuga clarified that the allegations reported by the BBC were the result of a misquotation, as reported by the People’s Gazette, a local news outlet.
He emphasized that his words were misrepresented and there hasn’t been a definitive decision to fine Binance. Onanuga stated that he did not mention that Binance was informed about the fines or that the amount would be $10 billion, highlighting that nothing is final yet.
As crypto exchanges face increased regulatory scrutiny in Nigeria, with recent bans on multiple platforms to safeguard the national currency, the Nigerian naira, Binance has come under the spotlight.
The cryptocurrency exchange removed the naira from its peer-to-peer (P2P) service amid the crackdown. The P2P feature, popular in Nigeria since 2021, emerged following the government’s ban on the crypto industry during the previous administration.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) expressed concerns about “suspicious flows” of funds through Binance’s Nigerian arm in 2023. CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso highlighted that a significant amount had passed through Nigeria via Binance from unidentified sources and users. Additionally, reports suggest that two senior Binance officials have been detained by the National Security Adviser’s office in Abuja as part of the crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges.
In December 2023, the CBN lifted a two-year ban on banks engaging in crypto transactions and issued guidelines for regulating virtual asset service providers. Nigeria was also the second country to launch a central bank digital currency in 2022, while the Africa Stablecoin Consortium introduced the naira-pegged cNGN stablecoin in a CBN regulator sandbox in February.
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