NIGERIA’S anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured an order from the Federal High Court to freeze N548.6 million in bank accounts belonging to suspected crypto users on platforms like ByBit, KuCoin, and others, based on their alleged role in naira fluctuations.
According to media reports, the motion, dated September 3, 2024, which the court relied on to freeze the funds, casts a fresh spotlight on major foreign crypto platforms, ByBit and KuCoin, accusing them of aiding the devaluation of the Nigerian currency.
This development is part of a broader prosecutorial and legal campaign by Federal Government agencies to address alleged foreign exchange violations and tax evasion by foreign cryptocurrency platforms.
Recall that in February 2024, Nigeria’s security agency arrested two executives of the Binance cryptocurrency platform following intelligence from the National Security Adviser, which alleged money laundering and terrorism financing activities on certain cryptocurrency exchange platforms.
Nairametrics reports that the EFCC is already in court against Binance and Tigran Gambaryan over money laundering offences involving $35.4 million.
This recent motion now extends the indictment to ByBit and KuCoin, accusing them and several unnamed crypto platforms of enabling their Nigerian users to engage in ”price discovery, confirmation, and market manipulation” through their platforms, thereby causing “distortions in the market, resulting in the naira losing its value against other currencies.”
Note that ByBit remains one of the few cryptocurrency exchanges still offering a peer-to-peer section on its platform, following a crackdown on other exchanges like Binance, which led to the delisting of their peer-to-peer categories. ByBit also offers options for crypto trading on its platform and is a favourite among Nigerian crypto traders.
