As revealed in a court document on Wednesday, the Nigerian government has fined the popular crypto exchange Binance $79.5 billion for economic losses it claimed to have incurred via the exchange’s unlicensed operation in its borders. It also wants the company to pay $2 billion in back taxes.
The Nigerian Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) also requests a 26.75% interest rate on unpaid taxes based on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s lending rate.
Nigeria ranks as the world’s second most crypto-inclined country. It is the only African country in the top 20 despite the unending issues between its governments and many global crypto exchanges and firms.
Binance and Nigeria
According to Reuters, Nigerian authorities blame Binance for its economic crisis and the devaluation of the local currency, the Naira (NGN), as it became the preferred exchange for exchanging the NGN for USD through crypto stablecoins.
Following the charges, the agencies detained Tigran Gambaryan, a high-ranking Binance executive, for months before the U.S. authorities intervened.
Meanwhile, the exchange has already been charged with four counts of tax evasion in Nigeria since 2024. These include failure to pay value-added tax and company income tax, allowing customers to evade taxes through its platform, and failing to file tax returns.
Following a number of regulatory issues, the exchange stopped all Naira transactions, removed the USDT/NGN trading pair from its App, and disabled its NGN/USDT peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace.
Nigeria and Crypto
The West African country has never been a fertile ground for cryptocurrencies and firms to thrive. In 2024, it restricted users with IP addresses from its region from accessing crypto exchange sites. It implemented strict rules, leading many exchanges, like OKX, to exit the country and stop servicing its citizens. At the same time, KuCoin and Bitget implemented taxes to continue their operations.
However, the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revealed plans to reexamine its stance to accommodate crypto trading and transactions under a taxed framework to generate extra revenue.
Meanwhile, only two crypto exchanges are licensed in Nigeria, Quidax and Busha.
