Nigeria is currently seeking information from Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, about its top 100 users in the country.
The request also includes the transaction history of these users over the last six months.
The development news comes as two executives from the company, Tigran Gambaryan, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, were detained by the Nigerian government two weeks ago.
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Gambaryan is the head of investigations at Binance, while Anjarwalla is the platform’s regional manager for Africa.
The executives were invited by the Nigerian government to discuss Binance operations and the restrictions imposed on the cryptocurrency exchange.
However, their passports were confiscated, and they have been held in confinement at a government facility in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
The government’s crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges is part of its efforts to revive the naira, the country’s national currency.
The Nigerian government lamented the loss of tax revenue from unregistered crypto exchanges, accusing Binance of operating illegally and facilitating “illicit flows from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify” amounting to $26 billion.
As a result, the detained executives may face charges related to currency manipulation, tax evasion, and illegal operations.
However, as of today, none of the executives have been formally charged with any criminal offenses, according to their families.
Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency was granted permission to detain both Binance executives for 14 days, which concluded on Tuesday.
A proposed hearing to extend the court order was scheduled for Wednesday.
In response to the regulatory scrutiny and contentious negotiation tactics in Nigeria, Binance discontinued its naira (NGN) services last week.
Nigeria’s request for Binance’s top users in the country is the new focus of negotiations between the largest crypto platform and Africa’s top crypto market.
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