The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform, Richard Teng, has labelled the detention of the company’s executives in Nigeria as a “dangerous precedent” for companies globally.
Teng, who spoke to Reuters on Tuesday, said it was time to break silence on the ongoing detention of Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and Binance head of financial crime compliance.
Binance and two of its executives, Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, are facing individual trials on charges of tax evasion and money laundering, which the firm is challenging.
Anjarwalla escaped a lawful custody, and “fled Nigeria using a smuggled passport”, the office of Nigeria’s National Security Adviser said in a statement.
On his part, Binance CEO said the executives first held meetings with Nigerian authorities in the country in January 2024.
He said on February 26, the Nigerian authorities at a follow-up meeting said the issues involving Binance were of national security and demanded that the exchange delist the naira currency from its platform and provide “granular-level” details on all Nigerian users.
Teng stated that Gambaryan had been detained in Nigeria for over two months “on dubious grounds.”
In early March, Binance declared that it was halting all transactions and trading in naira.