A cryptocurrency company called Binance Holdings Limited has been ordered by the Federal High Court in Abuja to provide the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with comprehensive data of all persons trading on its platform. The interim order was granted by Justice Emeka Nwite after ruling on the ex-parte motion moved by the EFCC’s lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho.
The order was granted to enable the EFCC to investigate alleged money laundering and terrorism financing on Binance. A certified true copy of the ruling was delivered on February 29, 2024. The ex-parte motion 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) and the court’s inherent powers. In an affidavit supporting the motion, Hamma Bello, an operative of the EFCC, stated that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the commission received intelligence stating the nefarious activities (money laundering and terrorism financing) on Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform.
The SIT investigated by conducting surveillance of the activities of the platform and uncovered users who have been using the platform for price discovery, confirmation and market manipulation, which 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 on the activities of the Nigerians on their platform. The information afforded to the team by Binance shows that the total trading volume from Nigeria in 2023 alone stood at $21.6 (twenty-one billion, six hundred million dollars).