"Who is worth $10 billion?" An article analyzes the Binance vs. Nigeria own incident

Written by: Ahmed Oluwasanjo

##Compiled by: Moni, Odaily Planet Daily

On the last day of February, a piece of news related to Binance attracted the attention of the crypto community - the West African country Nigeria demanded $10 billion in compensation from Binance. However, according to the latest news, this matter seems to have reversed. What happened behind the scenes?

Next, Odaily Planet Daily will take you to filter out the causes and consequences.

Binance vs. Nigeria event timeline review

On February 28, Reuters revealed that two Binance executives were detained in Nigeria. People familiar with the matter revealed that in Nigeria last week Following the decision to ban several cryptocurrency trading websites, the executives flew to Nigeria, but they were detained by the country’s national security adviser’s office and their passports were confiscated.

On February 29, multiple local media reported that Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso said that untraceable funds worth $26 billion flowed through Binance Nigeria last year. Nigeria is facing a foreign exchange crisis and is looking for ways to limit capital outflows as the local currency, the naira, hit a record low on Wednesday. In addition to measures such as imposing taxes on foreign workers, renewed calls for restrictions on cryptocurrencies in the country have recently made headlines, and users will be blocked from accessing certain crypto exchanges — including Binance.

In fact, Nigeria has always been a rapid adopter of cryptocurrency. However, due to fund traceability issues, the services of some exchanges have given the country’s regulatory agencies a very “headache.” Local media Nairametrics reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria is working with many Several government agencies are cooperating with the police to further investigate the flow of these funds. As early as 2023, Binance and an entity called "Binance Nigeria Limited" have been warned by the country's securities regulator to conduct "illegal activities."

On March 1, the whole situation was exacerbated by a BBC report that Bayo Onanuga, Nigeria’s presidential media adviser, asked Binance to pay at least $10 billion in compensation. This request came after Nigeria’s Raised against the backdrop of a crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges and the devaluation of the national currency, he also claimed that Binance, if not stopped, will destroy the Nigerian economy due to the arbitrary fixing of foreign exchange rates.

On the same day, Binance removed the Nigerian currency, the naira, from its peer-to-peer (P2P) functionality.

A dramatic turn of events? Nigeria changed its tune and "never said the fine on Binance was US$10 billion."

Just after multiple media reported that it would be fined US$10 billion in Nigeria, a message from Binance co-founder He Yi Responses circulated in the community, including one that read: "Who is worth $10 billion?"

Soon, things seemed to turn around.

According to the latest news from local media Gazettegr, Binance has stated on Friday that it has not entered into any negotiations with the Nigerian government regarding the possibility of paying a fine of up to 10 billion US dollars, which apparently contradicts a report published by the BBC. An unnamed exchange official said: "We have recently discussed with Nigeria how to solve the problem, but we have not heard any request for $10 billion."

"Interesting Unfortunately, Binance seems to be in no mood to discuss paying hefty compensation to the Nigerian government to restore recently cut off services, or releasing executives detained for alleged involvement in manipulation. Instead, the Binance official added: “Binance’s goal is to build a good relationship with the government and people of Nigeria and would like to see services in Nigeria resume soon, but we have no intention of degrading personnel or services.” Pay the fine."

What happened next shocked the people who had eaten melon before.

Nigeria’s presidential media adviser, Bayo Onanuga, has urgently clarified that his statements to the BBC were distorted by the British media outlet and that he never said the company had been informed or that Nigeria’s regulator had decided to impose a fine. Bayo Onanuga explained:

“I said that the Nigerian government may impose a huge fine on Binance for what happened, but never said that Binance was informed of the fine and never said a fine. The amount is definitely $10 billion, I just said there may be a certain amount of fines because nothing has been finalized yet.” (Bayo Onanuga repeatedly emphasized the uncertainty of fines).

It is worth mentioning that although it is unclear what measures Binance has taken to release its personnel, according to Bayo Onanuga, the detained "Binance employees have cooperated with the Nigerian government to provide information."

In summary, "Nigeria will impose a $10 billion fine on Binance" is likely to be a big own incident, and the BBC's misunderstanding report has caused the information to be erroneously fermented. After all - "Who is worth 10 billion?" Dollar?"

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