Two leaders of Binance, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange, will remain in custody for at least two more weeks in Nigeria, as per their families.
The pair went to court for the first time on Wednesday, even though they were not charged with a crime, according to Reuters.
Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen responsible for financial crime compliance at Binance, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, from a British-Kenyan background and serving as Binance’s Africa regional manager, were detained when they arrived in Nigeria on February 26.
This detention follows Nigeria’s recent crackdown on various cryptocurrency trading platforms. On Tuesday, the two men appeared in a Federal High Court in the capital, Abuja.
Lawyers from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission are seeking a new detention order after the initial one expired on March 12.
The Binance leaders opposed this, but the judge did not make a ruling on the EFCC’s request.
“At the court hearing in Abuja today, which was attended by Tigran and Nadeem, the court ruled that after hearing arguments from both parties, they would resume the session on April 5th,” the families of the two leaders said in a statement.
The PUNCH on Monday reported that the court ordered Binance to provide the EFCC with comprehensive information on all persons from Nigeria trading on its platform.
The court issued the order after an ex parte motion filed by the EFCC requesting information about Nigerians trading on Binance.
On March 12, 2024, the Financial Times reported that the EFCC asked Binance to disclose data on its 100 top users in Nigeria as well as all transaction history for the past six months.
According to the report, the request is at the centre of negotiations between Binance and Nigeria.
On March 8, the exchange announced its decision to stop its naira-to-dollar exchange services in Nigeria due to a dispute with Nigerian authorities, who accused the platform of manipulating the country’s foreign exchange rate.
The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, said that over $26bn in illicit funds had transited through the platform in the previous year.
In response to concerns, Binance revealed that it had restricted 281 accounts owned by Nigerians due to money laundering suspicions in 2022.
