Beyond Binance: Why Nigeria Must Conclude The Case Fast, and Move On, As Binance Is Not Naira’s Problem

The game of chess has started as Binance responds to Nigeria: “According to data provided by Binance to the ONSA [Office of National Security Adviser], Nigerian trading volume on the platform in 2023 alone amounted to $21.6 million.” Note “million”, not “billion”.

Recall that Nigeria had noted that about $26 billion was moved via Binance from Nigeria (I assume lifetime data). Binance was founded in 2017. If you take the average, you should be getting $4.3 billion per year. But Binance said it did only $21.6M in 2023!

“We are concerned that certain practices go on that indicate flows, going through a number of these entities and suspicious flows. In the case of Binance, in the last year, $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot identify” –   Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso.

Good People, it does seem like the only way is for Binance to produce the data requested since the numbers are totally out of sync. As that happens, no one should be deceived that Binance is Naira’s problem. Since they disconnected Naira in their ecosystem, Naira has not returned to N600/$.

Yes, Binance obey the law of the land, and for Nigeria, do your thing and move on, because Binance was not the reason why Naira is fading. Binance still operates in other markets across Africa and their currencies have not collapsed.

Partly, the reason Naira has been fading was on display in the National Assembly when senators padded the budget, making it clear that we wasted the 2023 electoral cycle when we thought it could bring a reset on governance at the federal level. Until we fix those demons, the Naira will continue to fade, Binance or no Binance.

Court orders Binance to turn in users’ data to Nigerian govt. as experts warn of economic consequences

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