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The Committee on Financial Crimes of the Nigerian House of Representatives has issued a summons to Binance CEO, Richard Teng, to appear before the committee. The summons relates to suspicions of terrorism financing and money laundering activities involving Binance.
Chair of the committee, Ginger Onwusibe, set an ultimatum for Binance’s management, requiring them to appear before the committee by March 4, 2024. The move comes after concerns were raised by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on February 27, citing “suspicious flows” of funds through Binance in 2023.
Onwusibe emphasized the importance of Binance’s compliance with existing laws governing business and financial operations in Nigeria. He expressed disappointment at Binance CEO Richard Teng for not attending a hearing scheduled for December 18, 2023, despite multiple invitations.
The Committee on Financial Crimes reaffirmed its commitment to combating financial crimes, citing its constitutional authority to protect Nigerians from illicit financial activities involving foreign companies.
In a related development, the National Security Adviser’s office reportedly detained two senior Binance officials in Abuja. The Nigerian government aims to tighten regulations on cryptocurrency exchanges to address concerns about the speculation surrounding the national fiat currency, the Nigerian naira. Binance responded to the heightened scrutiny by removing the naira from its peer-to-peer (P2P) service on February 28.
The P2P feature, which gained popularity in Nigeria in 2021, allows users to trade without involving third parties. The government implemented a ban on the thriving crypto industry during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. However, in December 2023, the CBN lifted the two-year ban on banks engaging in crypto transactions and issued guidelines for regulating virtual asset service providers. Nigeria was also the second country to launch a central bank digital currency in 2022. Additionally, the Africa Stablecoin Consortium introduced the naira-pegged cNGN stablecoin in a CBN regulator sandbox in February.
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