A UK-based business news outlet, the Financial Times (FT) has confirmed the detention of two senior executives at Binance in Nigeria.
News Central gathered that the passports of the unnamed Binance executives were seized.
The executives arrived Nigeria following the country’s ban on several cryptocurrency trading websites last week but were detained with their passports seized.
There is no official statement on why the Binance excos are being held and it remains unclear on whether they have been charged with any violations of Nigerian law.
Last week the Federal Government blocked the online platforms of Binance and other crypto firms to avert what it considers continuous manipulation of the forex market and illicit movement of funds.
Other cryptocurrency platforms banned include Coinbase, Kraken, OctaFX, Crypto, Forextime, FXTM among others.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday raised concerns over $26 billion that flowed through Binance Nigeria over the past year from “unidentified sources”.
CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, expressed concerns over the significant volume of transactions passing through Binance Nigeria, emphasising that the origins and beneficiaries of these funds are yet to be adequately identified.
“We are concerned that certain practices go on that indicate illicit flows going through a number of these entities and suspicious flows at best.
“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,” he stated.
