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They accuse the Exchange of cryptocurrencies of illegal operations and money laundering.
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The case has generated arrests, bribes, denounced and a leak.
The Nigeria government is determined to prove that Binance, the giant Exchange of cryptocurrency, is the culprit of an unprecedented economic crisis. With that objective, he went to the Superior Federal Court of Abuya, where he demands the platform for 79.5 billion dollars, accusing her of destabilizing her economy, of evading taxes and facilitating money laundering.
Nigeria presented judicial documents to prove that Binance cryptocurrency operations hit their economy, to the point of demolishing the currency of his country, which lost more than 70% of its value against the dollar since 2023. The authorities claim that the platform facilitated monetary speculation and unauthorized transactions, aggravating the exchange crisis, according to a reuter report .
Therefore, Binance now faces charges for not paying taxes Corporate, VAT and not submit tax statements between 2022 and 2023. The Federal Income Service (FIRS) requires a 10% annual penalty and a 27% interest on debts, based on the loan rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The company is accused of operating without a license since 2019, hiding commercial records and facilitating the washing of 35 million dollars, according to the Commission of Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC).
As Cryptonotics reported last year, two executives from Binance, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, were arrested during an investigation. Then, Anjarwalla escaped from custody, while Gambaryan continues to face money laundering charges.
The Binance case in Nigeria: a global precedent for the industry
However, what happened in that country is a sample of what happens when the State fails its citizens. It is another case of how the Fíat is now the broken money that impacts the lives of people who inhabit the land globe.
At present, Nigeria, the largest economy of Africa, confronted inflation greater than 24% in January 2025. There, Bitcoin and other digital assets have become an exhaust valve for the population, thus raising the volume traded with cryptocurrencies. In 2023, more than 21,000 million dollars were recorded in cryptocurrency operations with La Naira.
The Exchange suspended all transactions with La Naira in March 2024, but the authorities insist on their historical responsibility. The company denies the accusations and claims to collaborate with the FIRS to resolve tax disputes.
All this progresses while Nigeria seeks to sit a precedent to regulate the cryptocurrency industry and recover control of their monetary policy. And in addition to this, it develops a legal framework to carry out transactions with cryptoactive in the country.
The conflict between Nigeria and Binance is already a year. Since February 21, 2024, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, said More than 26,000 million dollars had passed through Binance Nigeria From non -traceable sources, which alarmed the authorities. This led to a prohibition of several cryptocurrency websites, including Exchange Binance itself, by the Nigeria Communications Commission.
On February 26, after a meeting with Nigerian officials who ended without agreements, Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were taken to their hotels, their passports were confiscated and were transferred to a “guest house” managed by the National Security Advisor’s office ( Onsa).
Although initially no formal charges were presented, his arrest marked the official start of the scaling of the conflict. Weeks later, on March 28, 2024, the EFCC presented charges for tax evasion and money laundering, consolidating the legal dispute that continued to develop throughout the year.