NSA Nuhu Ribadu detains Binance executives in cryptocurrency crackdown

Two senior executives at Binance were reportedly detained in Nigeria, yesterday, as the country cracks down on cryptocurrency exchanges, according to a report by the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter.
The executives flew to Nigeria following the country’s decision to ban several cryptocurrency trading websites last week but they were detained by the office of the country’s national security adviser and their passports seized.

The crackdown follows a period after several cryptocurrency websites emerged as platforms of choice for trading the Nigerian currency, which has suffered chronic dollar shortages.

The naira’s official exchange rate has been trading at levels close to the parallel market level after the currency was devalued last month, its second adjustment in less than a year.

Nigeria has been experiencing crippling dollar shortages that have pushed its currency to record lows after foreign investors fled following a previous oil price collapse and introduction of capital controls in 2015.

A Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, had warned that cryptocurrency trading website, Binance, will destroy the Nigerian economy by arbitrarily fixing foreign exchange rate if not checked.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, yesterday, Onanuga said: “If we don’t clamp down on Binance, Binance will destroy the economy of this country. They just fix the rate.

“We have saboteurs. Look at what Binance is doing to our economy. That is why the government moved against Binance. Some people sit down using the cyberspace to dictate even our exchange rate, hijacking the role of the CBN.

“They just sit down and fix anything they like. It is sabotage and we are trying to prevent that from happening henceforth