Crypto trading platform, Binance, has been slammed with a $10 billion fine by the federal government over allegations of influencing the country’s forex crisis.
The special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this in an interview with the BBC, Friday.
He noted that Binance is not registered in Nigeria and has no presence in the country.
Onanuga said people use the platform to arbitrarily fix dollar-naira rates, which negatively impacted the value of the local currency.
He further noted that the Binance team was already cooperating with the federal government by providing useful information, and had already suspended naira-related transactions on the platform.
“The platform fixes the exchange rate in Nigeria, which is illegal. 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,” Onanuga explained.
The presidential aide added that Binance influenced the increase in foreign exchange rates through currency speculation, which caused the Naira value to fall by almost 70% in recent months, noting that the federal government would not sit down and allow major reforms of the Tinubu administration get frustrated.
