The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended on May 10 that Nigeria regulate crypto trading platforms amid the African nationโs detainment of two Binance executives, according to a United Nations Thursday staff report.
Nigeria Should Regulate Crypto Trading Platforms, IMF Report Says
โStaff recommends that global crypto trading platforms be registered or licensed in Nigeria and subject to the same regulatory requirements applicable to financial intermediaries following the principle of same activity, same risk, and same regulation,โ the report read.
Nigeria has been in a financial crisis in recent months, with its once-dominant economy expected to plummet to fourth place on the African continent.
IMF recommends registering, licensing global crypto trading platforms in Nigeriaย โ https://t.co/0dbNEJ2bEl pic.twitter.com/ublzBVMyIe
โ Nairametrics (@Nairametrics) May 10, 2024
Despite the countryโs inflation hitting a near 28-year high, the IMF report stated that the countryโs currency is beginning to steady.
โThe naira depreciated sharply after the unification of the official foreign exchange windows in June 2023,โ the IMF noted. โFollowing monetary policy tightening in February and March 2024 and a resumption of FX interventions, the naira has started to stabilize.โ
Binance Executives Detained Amid Nigerian Crypto Crackdown
Nigeria has been cracking down on digital assets recently. In the coming days, the country will ban peer-to-peer payment systemsย in hopes of preventing manipulation.
Some government officials have shifted the blame for the nairaโs weakening to cryptocurrencies, with Nigerian Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso alleging in February that $26 billion worth ofย illicit funds shuffled through Binance Nigeria in 2023 alone.ย
โWe are concerned that certain practices that go on that indicate illicit flows through a number of these entities and suspicious flows at best,โ Cardoso said. โIn the case of Binance, $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users we cannot adequately identify.โ
Concerns have swirled over the countryโs arrest of two Binance executives, Nadeem Anjarwalla and Tigran Gambaryan, on money laundering and tax evasion charges in over the crypto exchangeโs operations.
Both Anjwarwalla and Gambaryan were in the country for policy meetings with regulators amidst tensions with the African nation.
Earlier this week, Binance CEO Richard Teng claimed that โunknown personsโ proposed a secret settlement between the crypto exchangeโs employees and Nigerian officials โto make these issues go away.โ
Binance refused to engage in such a deal, leading to Anjarwalla and Gambaryanโs eventual capture. The two are due back in court for a hearing in Abuja on May 17.
Despite questions over the legality of the Binance executivesโ arrest, IMFโs latest staff report may signify a future increase in foreign crypto exchanges in Nigeria overall.
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