Melvin Onwubuke
The Office of the National Security Adviser has announced that the Federal Government is investigating the activities of Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform.
Two executives of Binance, were reportedly arrested by agents of the Nigerian Government.
The National Communication Commission, in efforts to curb the constant manipulation of the forex market and illegal financial transactions, had on February 21, 2024, blocked online platforms like Binance and other cryptocurrency.
Zakaria Mijinyawa, the Head of Strategic Communication, Office of the National Security Adviser said, the office was coordinating the activities of other agencies, to investigate the operations of the company, according to The Punch.
“The office is leading and coordinating an interagency process by law enforcement officers – this includes ongoing investigations into the operations of Binance. Outcomes from interagency investigation, will be made available in due course,” he noted.
However, he neither confirmed nor denied the arrest of the two executives.
The CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, had on Tuesday, during a press briefing, after the first Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the year, in Abuja, disclosed that, more than $26 billion was channeled through Binance without traces, in the last one year.
In addition, a presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga on Wednesday while on Channels Television’s Politics Today stated that if severe actions were not taken against Binance, their operations might ruin the nation’s economy.
He said, “If we don’t clamp down on Binance, Binance will destroy the economy of this country. They just fix the rate.
“We have saboteurs. Look at what Binance is doing to our economy. That is why the government moved against Binance. Some people sit down using cyberspace to dictate even our exchange rate, hijacking the role of the CBN.
“They just sit down and fix anything they like. It’s sabotage and we are trying to prevent that from happening henceforth.”
