The Nigerian government has announced an ongoing investigation into the operations of Binance, a cryptocurrency firm. Zakari Mijinyawa, the Head of Strategic Communication at the Office of the National Security Adviser, revealed this in a brief statement on Thursday.
He stated that the outcomes of the investigation conducted by law enforcement agencies would be disclosed to the public in due course.
Mijinyawa noted, “The office is spearheading an interagency process involving law enforcement officials to probe Binance’s operations.” However, he did not confirm or deny reports of the arrest of two Binance executives who were in Nigeria to address the platform’s restrictions since February 21.
The decision to investigate Binance follows concerns expressed by Olayemi Cardoso, the Governor of the Central Bank, regarding the company’s activities in Nigeria. Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser on Information & Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, had urged the CBN and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to take action against Binance and other cryptocurrency platforms that undermine the Naira in the foreign exchange market.
In recent days, the Naira has appreciated against the US dollar both in the official and parallel exchange markets. According to FMDQ data on Thursday, the Naira was valued at N1,595.11 per USD officially and between N1,400 and N1,500 per USD in the parallel market.
