On Monday night, Feb. 26, two senior executives at Binance were detained in Nigeria in connection with investigations into the crypto exchange’s operations in the country.
Authorities have seized the passports of two Binance executives, an American and a British citizen.
According to the report, the executives flew to Nigeria following the country’s decision to ban several cryptocurrency trading websites last week, but they were detained and their passports seized.
Officials did not provide details on why the Binance employees are being detained, and it remains unclear whether they have been charged with any violations of Nigerian law.
The incident comes as the Nigerian Communications Commission ordered internet service providers to block access to Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, and other crypto exchange websites. That action came after Binance and other crypto exchanges were accused of aiding and abetting currency speculation and forex market manipulation by several segments of Nigeria’s government.
Nigeria’s central bank governor, Olayemi Cardoso, said on Tuesday, Feb. 27, that there were indications of illicit flow of funds through platforms like Binance.
“In the case of Binance, in the last year alone, $26 billion has passed through ‘Binance Nigeria’ from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify,” Cardoso said at a press conference.
Angry Nigerians have taken to the social media platform X to say that this action by Nigerian authorities would chase investors away.
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