The Central Bank of Nigeria (CB) Governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, has revealed that Binance, a well-known crypto exchange, has handled about $26 billion from untraceable sources, echoing the views of his predecessor, Mr Godwin Emefiele.
He made this statement as he commented on the activities of cryptocurrency platforms like Binance during a press briefing after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Tuesday.
The MPC increased its key interest rate, called the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) to 22.75 per cent, for the first time in eight months. The Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) was also raised to 45 per cent.
Mr Cardoso said that the recent regulatory measures against some of the crypto exchanges were motivated by the impact of such illegal transactions on Nigeria’s financial system.
“We are worried that some practices occur that suggest illicit flows, involving some of these entities and dubious flows.
“For instance, Binance has processed $26 billion through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot properly identify,” he said.
This was the same view expressed by his predecessor, Mr Emefiele, who labelled the operations of cryptocurrencies as risky and unclear.
He emphasised that the secrecy, ambiguity and concealment of cryptocurrencies made them appealing for those who engage in unlawful activities such as money laundering, terrorism financing, buying of small arms and light weapons and tax evasion.
He also said that the use of cryptocurrency violated an existing law because cryptocurrencies were issued by unregulated and unlicensed entities, which was against the mandate of the Bank, as stated in the CBN Act (2007) declaring the Bank as the issuer of legal tender in Nigeria.
“Cryptocurrency has no place in our monetary system at this time and cryptocurrency transactions should not be carried out through the Nigerian banking system,” he said when appeared for the Nigerian Senate in February 2021.
