The last is not heard of the impasse between the Nigerian government and the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Nigerian authorities detained Tigran Gambaryan alongside Nadeem Anjarwalla in early March over allegations that Binance was one of the major reasons behind the country’s foreign exchange woes.
While Anjarwalla fled detention at some point, Gambaryan has been in Nigerian custody for more than 70 days.
Binance CEO Richard Teng Breaks Silence
After several court dates and adjournments, it seems no reasonable progress has been made on the case thus far. The impossible situation has now compelled Binance CEO Richard Teng to finally speak publicly on the matter.
There's no Call To Action with the ID #3.In a Tuesday blog post, Teng urged the Nigerian government to release Gambaryan to his family. He noted that the manner in which the country arrested the executives does not only portray the country in a bad light but may also set bad examples for onlookers around the world. Part of the statement reads:
“To invite a company’s mid-level employees for collaborative policy meetings, only to detain them, has set a dangerous new precedent for all companies worldwide.”
Teng hammers on the deceptive way in which Nigerian authorities approached the arrest in the first place. He also suggested that there may have been bribe requests from certain individuals who cannot exactly be determined to be working in the interest of the country. Binance insists that any settlement with the Nigerian government must be official and made in writing.
Nigeria’s Standpoint
Nigeria, the giant of Africa as it is commonly called, is a nation with high adoption of web3 and digital assets. While it didn’t always take a particularly hostile approach to crypto, its stance recently changed after seeing its local fiat currency, the Naira, drop significantly in value against global markets.
The situation called for immediate rescue as the Nigerian government blamed the high crypto adoption rate for the nation’s declining economy. This led to the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) banning several cryptocurrency exchanges that are not regulated in the country.
There's no Call To Action with the ID #3.In one of the latest local reports, the Nigerian government is also seeking to put an end to persons-to-persons (P2P) crypto transactions in Nigeria. The country believes that all of these efforts will help to strengthen its local currency, the Naira, and ultimately revive its failing economy.
According to earlier reports, Nigeria seeks for Binance to pay $10 billion in settlement for its role in rates manipulation and failing to register appropriately with the right agency. That is more than twice the settlement that the company made in a similar situation with the United States.
It remains to be seen how Nigeria would react to the latest bribe allegations from Teng among other things. Perhaps, it is Binance that would still bend in compliance to the Nigerian government’s requirements to ensure the release of Gambaryan. As of publication the Nigerian Naira was seen exchanging around 1,390 for a single US dollar.
