Cryptocurrency traders in Nigeria were at the weekend thrown into more suspense after the Federal Government slammed a $10 billion fine on Binance, the cryptocurrency trading platform over the free fall of the naira.

The fine is the highest fine ever imposed by Nigeria on a corporate entity and reflects the distraught of the Government over the activities of Binance.

This development was made known by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in an interview with the BBC on Friday morning.

According to Onanuga, the 10 billion dollar fine was slammed on Binance due to its illegal operations, which contributed hugely to the devaluation of the naira.

He said: “The platform fixes the exchange rate for the country, and it is an illegal rate. The CBN is the only authority that can fix the exchange rate for the country.

Binance platform harbours people who fix the exchange rate, which quickly affects the Nigerian economy for the time when Nigeria is trying to stabilise the economy.

“Binance staff cooperated with the government to provide information.”

Recall that the Nigerian government had reportedly directed mobile networks to prevent access to Binance platforms.

This forced the cryptocurrency exchange giant to remove the naira from its peer-to-peer feature.

Two employees of Binance were also allegedly detained by the office of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, in Abuja as part of an investigation into the cryptocurrency exchange’s operations in Nigeria.

The arrest of the two officials was the government’s attempt to curb naira speculation and steady its free fall by clamping down on cryptocurrency exchanges.