The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered Binance to release information on all Nigerian traders using its platform.
An ex parte motion filed by the EFCC led the Federal High Court in Abuja to order Binance to hand over data on Nigerian traders. This motion requested information on all Nigerian traders using the Binance platform.
The suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/259/2024 and dated February 29 according to the anti-graft agency was brought pursuant to sections 6(b), (h), (I), 7(1), (a)(2), and 38 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Establishment Act, 2004 and Section 15 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 (as amended).
According to an affidavit filed by an EFCC operative, the Special Investigation Team of the commission received intelligence that Binance had been used for money laundering and terrorist financing. This information led the EFCC to seek data on all Nigerian traders using the platform.
Hamma Bello, an operative of the EFCC stated that, “On receipt of the Intelligence, the team began an investigation by conducting surveillance of the activities of the platform.
“The team uncovered users who have been using the platform for price discovery, confirmation and market manipulation which has caused tremendous distortions in the market, resulting in the naira losing its value against other currencies.
“The damage the platform has caused was clearly explained to the operators of the platform and they were requested to delist the Naira and avail the ONSA of the activities of the Nigerians on their platform.
“The information afforded to the team by Binance shows trading volume from Nigeria in 2023 alone stood at $21.6bn.”
Bello stated that the requested data would help the commission to complete its investigation.