THE NEWS IN BRIEF

Nigeria's government has refuted allegations that it plans to punish cryptocurrency firm Binance $10 billion, alleging that a statement from one of its senior advisors was misquoted.

According to the Premium Times, Nigeria's special advisor on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, announced the fine during an interview with the BBC. However, Onanuga later informed the People's Gazette that his statements had been misconstrued.

He told the newspaper, "I never said Binance had been informed about the fines or that it would definitely be $10 billion," going on to say, "I only said the amount may be imposed, which is because nothing has been finalized yet."

Binance told the newspaper, "We recently discussed ways to resolve issues with Nigeria, but we did not hear any demand for $10 billion."

Onanuga is also claimed to have stated in the interview that the exchange gained significantly from 'illegal trades,' resulting in massive losses for Nigeria.

Nigeria banned numerous cryptocurrency exchanges this week, including Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken, to save the Nigerian naira from falling in value. Then, this week, two senior Binance executives were allegedly detained after coming into the nation.

The Premium Times also revealed today that the Nigerian government has confirmed that Binance is being investigated.

The crypto crackdown appears to be a U-turn in the government's policy, which had previously viewed cryptocurrency as a force for good that would help attract investment and improve its faltering economy.

The National Agency for Prospective Projects of Uzbekistan sued Binance last month after the cryptocurrency exchange failed to pay a 102 million som ($8,200) charge for operating without a license.