Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Olayemi Cardoso, says as much as $26bn was moved through Binance Nigeria in one year, alleging that the platform has been used to funnel illicit and suspicious funds.
The Nigerian government had last week began to clampdown on crypto exchange platforms as part of its overall effort to stabilise the volatile foreign exchange that has seen the naira fall from N700 to the dollar to as much as N1900 to the dollar at the parallel market.
Speaking about the clampdown after Tuesday's Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Cardoso said, "Certain practices go on that indicate illicit flows going through a number of these entities,"
"In the case of Binance, in the last one year alone, $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify."
Binance has come under regulatory scrutiny in recent weeks in Nigeria and the United States.
Bayo Onanuga, a spokesperson for Nigerian President Bola Tinubu accused Binance of "hijacking" the role of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in determining the value of naira in foreign exchange.
Although Binance claimed that it is committed to adherence to local regulations and laws in Nigeria, Onanuga urged government agencies to move against the cryptocurrency platform and suggested another ban on cryptocurrency exchange in Nigeria.
"Binance, facing regulatory showdown in many countries, and causing disruptions in the currency market, should not be allowed to dictate the value of the Naira, not on its crypto exchange platform," Onanuga tweeted.
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