Reports by UK-based Financial Times (FT) says the passports of two unnamed Binance executives have been seized after they were arrested by Nigerian authorities, who are struggling to firm up the value of the Naira.
Perhaps in conformity with the clampdown, Binance, the world’s biggest crypto-currency trading platform, has disabled its peer-to-peer function for Nigerian users on its platform.
Peer-to-peer function, popularly known as P2P, allows users, buyers and sellers to trade without third-party interference.
With the disabling of the P2P function for Nigerian users, Nigerians might no longer trade on Binance.
Last week, Binance confirmed it was working with Federal Government authorities to block dollar-naira trading on the platform.
The cryptocurrency platform also confirmed that its website had been blocked, noting that its app was still functioning for users to access the platform.
In the past week, federal authorities clamped down on cryptocurrency platforms while raiding bureaux de change nationwide to stabilise the free-falling naira.FT gathered that the executives flew to Nigeria following the country’s decision to ban several cryptocurrency trading websites last week but were detained with their passports seized.
The development comes after the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, on Tuesday complained over $26 billion flowed through Binance the country over the past year from “unidentified sources”.
Cardoso made his complaint at the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja.
On the arrest of the online financial platform, officials did not provide details on why they were being detained.
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.
Apart from Binance, other platforms such as Forextime, OctaFX, Crypto, FXTM, Coinbase, and Kraken, among others were also blocked.
