By Abiola Olawale
The Federal Government is set to demand for the payment of a penalty fee understood to be in the region of over $10bn, from a popular cryptocurrency trading platform, Binance.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, revealed this during an interview session with the BBC on Friday.
Onanuga said that the payment is being demanded over findings that Binance allegedly profited substantially from its “illegal transactions” in Nigeria while the nation suffered heavy losses.
He also argued that the company is neither registered in Nigeria nor has any presence in the country, adding that some users leveraged the platform to arbitrarily determine dollar-naira rates which saw a sharp decline in the value of the naira.
Giving further clarification to our correspondent on the matter, Onanuga stated, “I said compensation is being discussed and a fine is being contemplated. I used the word ‘May’. “
The Presidential Spokesperson confirmed that the crypto exchange platform is under investigation by Nigerian authorities.
The New Diplomat had reported that the federal government detained two top executives of Binance, on Wednesday.
The two executives were detained following the breakdown of talks between Nigerian government officials and Binance, over alleged manipulations in foreign exchange trading and speculative activities.
The executives visited Nigeria in response to the country’s recent crackdown on various cryptocurrency trading platforms. During their stay, they were apprehended by the Office of the National Security Adviser, and their passports were confiscated.
According to reports, the two Binance executives detained were American and British.
