The federal government has slammed the crypto trading platform Binance with a $10 billion fine over allegations of fueling the country’s forex crisis.
The special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed the reason for the fine during an interview with the BBC on Friday.
Onanuga said that Binance profited substantially from its “illegal transactions” in Nigeria while the nation suffered huge losses despite the fact that it has no presence in the country neither is it a registered organisation.
He said that people used the platform to arbitrarily fix dollar-naira rates, a practice that negatively impacted the value of the local currency.
The President’s aide also noted during an interview Channels Television on Thursday that “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,” he added.
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.