The Nigerian government Fines Binance $10 billion.

 As part of a crackdown on the cryptocurrency trading platform, the Nigerian government is requesting at least $10 billion in retaliation from Binance in an attempt to preserve the value of the country's indigenous currency.

In an interview with the BBC on Friday morning, Bayo Onanuga, President Bola Tinubu's special assistant on information and strategy, disclosed this.

According to Mr. Onanuga, during the conversation that PREMIUM TIMES watched, Binance made a significant profit from its "illegal transactions" in Nigeria while the country suffered significant losses.

The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) verified that the cryptocurrency trading platform was under investigation by Nigerian authorities earlier on Friday, according to a story published by PREMIUM TIMES.

An ONSA top source told PREMIUM TIMES that the security adviser's office is leading an interagency inquiry into Binance's operations, marking the agency's first official acknowledgment of the crackdown on the company and other cryptocurrency platforms. 

“I am confirming that the office of the national security adviser, as part of ongoing operations in the foreign exchange market with the CBN and other law enforcement and security agencies, is coordinating an interagency investigation into the operations of Binance,” Following many requests for response on Thursday, Zakari Mijinyawa, the chief of strategic communication at the Office of the National Security Adviser, told PREMIUM TIMES.

As of Thursday night's press time, Mr. Mijinyawa had not yet offered any additional information regarding the investigations.

In an attempt to stabilize the country's foreign exchange market, the government detained two executives of a cryptocurrency trading platform, as this publication reported on Wednesday.

The two executives were held in Abuja, the federal capital territory, days after they arrived by plane as part of efforts to engage with the Nigerian authorities amid a crackdown on the cryptocurrency platform, according to sources with knowledge of the situation who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES.