Nigeria is actively seeking information from Binance about its top 100 users in the country and all trading history covering the past six months, according to the Financial Times. report.
This news coincides with the disclosure of the names of the two executives from the cryptocurrency exchange who were arrested two weeks ago: Tigran Gambaryan, Binance’s head of research, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, the crypto platform’s regional director for Africa, Wired mentionted Tuesday.
Last month, Gambaryan, who was a former US federal agent with a focus on cryptography, and Anjarwalla had their passports confiscated and were detained at a government facility in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. Their arrest is part of Nigeria’s broader crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges, coinciding with controversial government efforts to revive the naira, the country’s national currency.
Before their arrest, Gambaryan, a US citizen, and Anjarwalla, a dual citizen of the UK and Kenya, responded to an invitation from the Nigerian government to discuss Binance’s operations and restrictions placed on the cryptocurrency exchange.
Nigeria’s central bank had expressed concerns about the loss of tax revenue from unregistered crypto exchanges. In addition, it accused Binance of operating illegally and facilitating “illegal flows from sources and users we cannot adequately identify,” amounting to $26 billion. As a result, the detained executives could face charges related to currency manipulation, tax evasion and illegal business, according to Bloomberg. report.
However, according to their families, none of the executives had been formally charged with criminal offenses as of Tuesday. The Financial Times reports that Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency was granted permission to detain both Binance executives for 14 days, which ended on Tuesday. A proposed hearing to extend the court order is scheduled for Wednesday.
In response to this increased regulatory scrutiny and controversial trading tactics in Nigeria, Binance suspended naira (NGN) services last week.
Nigeria’s request for Binance’s top users in the country is the new focus in negotiations between Africa’s largest crypto platform and leading crypto market. Just last week, locally References claimed that the Nigerian parliament threatened to issue an arrest warrant for the company’s executives and called on Binance CEO Richard Teng to explain about investigations into the company’s alleged involvement in money laundering and terrorist financing.
Meanwhile, documents reviewed by the FT reveal that Nigeria, through its national security adviser, has asked Binance to address any outstanding tax liabilities.
