Senior Binance Executives Detained in Nigeria Amidst Accusations of Currency Manipulation

By: Eva Baxter

In a startling turn of events, two senior executives from the crypto trading titan Binance have been detained in Nigeria. Tigran Gambaryan, former special agent for the US Internal Revenue Service and Binance's head of financial crime compliance, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, the regional manager for Binance Kenya, have been reportedly held in Nigeria's capital, Abuja for the past two weeks.

The Nigerian government has accused Binance of exacerbating foreign exchange challenges in the country by manipulating rates for profit. Consequently, the government restricted access to Binance’s official website and detained the executives. These executives had travelled to Nigeria at the behest of the government to address concerns related to Binance's operations in the country.

Many fear that the constructive dialogue that was to take place has been replaced by an unexpected standoff as the Binance officials were escorted from their hotels to a government-managed guesthouse after their arrival, and have reportedly been unable to access their passports since.

Binance has been proactively working with Nigerian authorities to resolve the situation and secure the release of the detained officials. Regardless of the accusations, Binance remains committed to their employees and their safety, hoping for a swift resolution to this disconcerting issue.