A $10 billion fine has been imposed by the federal government on cryptocurrency exchange Binance for allegedly influencing the foreign exchange crisis.
The announcement comes days after the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria said unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges are costing the country money in taxes.
This was revealed by Bayo Onanuga, President Bola Tinubu's special adviser on information and strategy in an interview with BBC on Friday.
Onanuga mentioned that Binance has no presence or registration in Nigeria, and while Nigeria sustained enormous losses, Binance made a huge profit from its "illegal transactions" in the country.
Onanuga noted that users fixed dollar-naira exchange rates indiscriminately using the site, adding that the practice had a detrimental effect on the value of the local currency.
He further stated that the Binance team had barred all Naira-related transactions on the platform and is currently cooperating with the Nigerian authorities by providing useful information.
“The platform fixes the exchange rate in Nigeria, which is illegal, as 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 said.
The presidential aide continued by saying that Binance's currency speculation contributed to the rise in foreign exchange rates, which in turn led the value of the Naira to decline by about 70% in recent months.
