Binance may have left Nigeria, but its executives are not being allowed to after the Nigerian government contests $26 billion in funds that may have been collected illegally.

This is another wrinkle in the ongoing Binance fiasco, heaped on top of US government lawsuits, billions in fines, and jail time for some of the Binance executives. Binance cannot catch a break since March of 2023 when the first lawsuit was filed by a federal appeals court. That lawsuit accused Biance’s leaders of illegal trading practices, specifically by selling unregistered tokens.

Nadeem Anjarwalla and Tigran Gambaryan are being held by Nigerian authorities, who detained them for the past two weeks. They were originally invited by the government to enter into negotiations about a legal dispute. That dispute pertains to $26 billion in funds that have yet to be accounted for.

Gambaryan serves as Binance’s head of financial crime compliance. He met with the Nigerian government to handle allegations of currency destabilization as a result of the Binance exchange platform. Before joining Binance, Gambaryan worked for the International Revenue Service in special agent capacity.

Anjarwalla Is a Kenyan national who manages the African region for Binance. He and Gambaryan are currently being held by the Nigerian government although no formal charges have been lodged against them. The government has also not issued any official statement about detaining the two executives.

The Nigerian Financial Crisis

The Nigerian government is struggling with a massively ballooning inflation, which sat at 30% at the start of 2024. The Nigerian currency has been losing its value quickly and this has positioned Nigeria as one of the worst economically performing countries in the world.

With the poverty rate of nearly 70% and the cost of living skyrocketing, Nigeria’s government has tried to alleviate the crisis however they can. The country has adopted cryptocurrency in a large way, but the government is also cracking down on foreign exchange to help boost the value of Nigerian money. As many Nigerians turn to stablecoins that retained much of their value, the currency markets in Nigeria have separated to where the government can no longer keep official rates set like they used to. Binance became an easy target for the government attempts to stifle the financial crisis.