The news
- Nigeria is demanding information about Binance's top 100 users in the country.
- This is coming after two executives from the company were reported detained in the country following the role Binance allegedly played in the fall of the naira.
- The CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, also said about $26 billion in transactions flowed through the crypto platform, carried out by unknown individuals.
Besides knowing who the top 100 Binance users are, Nigeria also wants to know their transaction history on the platform for the past six months.
Per reports from the Financial Times, the demand by the Nigerian government is central to the negotiations going on between Binance and the country.
The country also believes that a six-month transaction history is important as it was around the time the naira value started receding.
In addition to these demands, the Office of Nigeria's National Security Adviser is also asking Binance to resolve any outstanding tax liabilities.
These negotiations are going amidst the detainment of two Binance Executives identified as Tigran Gambaryan, a former Crypto-Focused US Federal Agent who now leads Binance's Criminal Investigation team and Kenyan, Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance's Regional Manager for Africa.
According to Wired, the two executives have been detained against their will for over two weeks, with their passports seized.
While Binance has not said anything about the detainment of both men, their families have expressed their dissatisfaction with the detainment, especially when they have not been charged with any criminal offence.
They were reportedly invited by the Nigerian government for dialogue following a plan to block the Binance website and other crypto platforms.
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After their first meeting with the government, the executives were taken to a guest house run by the Office of Nigeria's National Security Adviser.
As of press time, it is unknown when they will be released and what progress has been made regarding negotiations between Binance and the Nigerian government.
Since news broke that Nigeria was going to block the accessibility of crypto websites through telcos, crypto platforms in the country have either stopped P2P transactions or stopped offering stablecoins like USDT and USDC to users.
While many crypto stakeholders say Binance has no hand in Nigeria's currency problems, the naira has gained against the dollar trading at ₦1,595 to a dollar as opposed to ₦1,800 before the clampdown on crypto websites.
Meanwhile, the Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria (BICCoN) has said the recent actions on crypto platforms by the Nigerian government might push crypto and other virtual asset activities underground.
As of press time, the websites of many crypto platforms remain inaccessible through mobile networks such as MTN and Airtel.
