Passports belonging to undisclosed Binance executives were confiscated after they traveled to Nigeria in response to the country’s recent ban on several cryptocurrency trading websites.
According to Financial Times, the executives were detained, and the reasons for their detention have not been disclosed.
This development follows the Nigerian government’s decision to block online platforms of various crypto firms, including Binance, as a measure to counter concerns about market manipulation and the unauthorized movement of funds.
The Central Bank of Nigeria had raised alarms about the significant transaction volume, totaling $26 billion, passing through Binance Nigeria in the past year, expressing worries about the lack of identification regarding the sources and beneficiaries of these funds.
“We are concerned that certain practices go on that indicate illicit flows going through a number of these entities and suspicious flows at best.
“In the case of Binance, in the last one year alone, $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify,” Cardoso stated.
