Economy
Binance CEO Warns Nigeria of Dangerous Precedent
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Binance, Mr Richard Teng, has called on the Nigerian government to release Mr Tigran Gambaryan, the head of the crypto exchange’s Financial Crime Compliance team, who is currently imprisoned in the country.
He accused Nigeria of setting a dangerous precedent after the company’s executives were invited to the African country and then detained as part of a crackdown on cryptocurrency.
“As you may be aware, one of our beloved colleagues, Tigran Gambaryan, continues to be held by the government in Nigeria for more than 70 days,” Mr Teng wrote in a blog post on the Binance website, which has been blocked by some telcos.
“I also feel that it’s time to speak out about this issue on behalf of the global business community. To invite a company’s mid-level employees for collaborative policy meetings, only to detain them, has set a dangerous new precedent for all companies worldwide,” he added.
The exchange’s Regional Manager for Africa, Mr Nadeem Anjarwalla, was also detained in February, but has since escaped custody and is believed to be in Kenya.
Mr Teng, who replaced the founder Mr Changpeng Zhao, said Binance executives first held meetings with Nigerian authorities in the country in January.
However, at a follow-up meeting on February 26, the Nigerian government 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, he said.
As a result, Mr Gambaryan and Mr Anjarwalla were subsequently detained, until the latter fled during the Ramadan month.
“To invite a company’s mid-level employees for collaborative policy meetings, only to detain them, has set a dangerous new precedent for all companies worldwide,” Teng said, in his strongest comments yet since the case started in February.
Mr Gambaryan was being held in Nigeria for more than two months “for spurious reasons,” Mr Teng said.
Following the issue, Binance announced in early March it was stopping all transactions and trading in Naira.
“Our hope when we took this drastic step was that our colleagues would be released and Binance could continue to work with the Nigerian government to resolve any further concerns. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen,” said Mr Teng.
He said Gambaryan should be allowed to go home while Binance and Nigerian authorities resolve any issues, noting that it was cooperating.
“We will continue engagement with Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on resolving potential historic tax liabilities,” he said.
By Dipo Olowookere
It was another bearish outcome for the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on Wednesday due to persistent profit-taking.
The local bourse shed 0.05 per cent at midweek as investors tread cautiously, causing the All-Share Index (ASI) to contract by 78.28 points to 146,862.01 points from 146,940.29 points, with the market capitalisation giving up N34 billion to settle at N93.625 trillion compared with the previous day’s N93.659 trillion.
Chams ended the trading day as the worst-performing stock after it lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N3.06, Haldane McCall declined by 8.88 per cent to N4.00, UAC Nigeria slumped by 8.18 per cent to N80.80, and Sunu Assurance moderated by 6.98 per cent to N4.00.
The best-performing stock for the session was Japaul due to its 10.00 per cent rise, closing at N2.53. Prestige Assurance expanded by 9.40 per cent to N1.63, MeCure inflated by 7.72 per cent to N34.90, The Initiates rose by 7.30 per cent to N12.50, and Consolidated Hallmark gained 6.97 per cent to close at N4.30.
Business Post observed that despite the loss, the market breadth index was positive after Customs Street finished with 28 price gainers and 23 price losers, implying a strong investor sentiment.
The most traded equity was Cutix with 122.9 million units sold for N369.1 million, FCMB exchanged 80.7 million units worth N879.3 million, Consolidated Hallmark transacted 71.2 million units valued at N286.4 million, Fidelity Bank traded 63.8 million units worth N1.2 billion, and Tantalizers had a turnover of 57.8 million units valued at N136.5 million.
In all, investors bought and sold 747.1 million shares for N12.4 billion in 19,161 deals versus the 2.0 billion shares worth N30.2 billion executed in 23,038 deals on Tuesday, indicating a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 62.65 per cent, 58.94 per cent, and 16.83 per cent, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira depreciated against the United States Dollar by N3.52 or o.24 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) to N1,455.38/$1 on Wednesday, December 8, from the N1,451.86/$1 it was traded a day earlier.
It was a similar story for the local currency against the Pound Sterling in the same market window yesterday as its value shrank by N2.51 to close at N1,937.26/£1 versus the preceding session’s N1,934.75/£1 and lost N1.63 against the Euro to settle at N1,692.76/€1 compared with Tuesday’s closing value of N1,691.13/€1.
In the black market segment, the Naira weakened against the greenback yesterday by N5 to sell for N1,470/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,465/$1 but traded flat at N1,460/$1 at GTBank.
The domestic currency faces pressures from increasing year-end Dollar demand as importers and retailers are actively sourcing FX for Christmas and New Year’s sales.
However, this is still stable, reflecting divergent currency dynamics between the regulated official segment and the informal markets as the Naira’s movement remains within the trading band.
This suggests that the FX market is adjusting gradually to seasonal pressures while awaiting further policy signals from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market tumbled despite the Federal Reserve’s decision to trim its fed funds rate range by 25 basis points. Traders were spooked by comments by Federal Reserve’s chairman Jerome Powell who sounded both dovish and hawkish.
While the rate cut is largely anticipated by market participants, looser financial conditions with a resilient US economy could help bolster risk appetite on markets. According to Mr Powell, the US labour market might be weaker than previously thought, while also sounding cautious about gains made in fighting inflation.
Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 7.0 per cent to $0.4311, Solana (SOL) fell by 5.9 per cent to $131.06, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 5.6 per cent to $0.1385, Litecoin (LTC) crashed by 3.9 per cent to $81.26, and Ripple (XRP) declined by 3.7 per cent to $2.01.
Further, Ethereum (ETH) moderated by 3.4 per cent to $3,209.84, Binance Coin (BNB) retreated by 2.6 per cent to $871.20, and Bitcoin (BTC) lost 2.5 per cent to sell at $90,316.82, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude oil prices settled higher on Wednesday as the US seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, adding to concerns about immediate supplies, with Brent futures up by 27 cents or 0.4 per cent to $62.21 a barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures up by 21 cents or 0.4 per cent to $58.46 per barrel.
The American government seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, marking a major escalation in tensions between the two nations.
President Donald Trump confirmed the operation, saying, “We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized actually,” adding later that the US will keep the oil.
The US Coast Guard, Federal Bureau of Information (FBI), and Homeland Security, executed a seizure warrant, boarding the tanker by helicopter. The vessel, identified by maritime sources as the Panama-flagged Skipper (formerly named Adisa), had been under US sanctions for several years for its alleged role in transporting Venezuelan and Iranian crude via a shadow oil-shipping network tied to Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force.
According to tracking data, the tanker had recently loaded heavy crude at Venezuela’s Puerto José.
In Caracas, the government of President Nicolás Maduro condemned the seizure, branding it “a blatant theft” and an act of “international piracy.”
The tanker seizure further inflames concerns about immediate supplies in a market that was already worried about movements of Venezuelan, Iranian and Russian barrels.
Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve reduced its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, as expected, which could help lift oil demand by boosting economic growth.
The Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Mr Jerome Powell declined to say whether there would be another rate cut in the near future, but said the central bank is well positioned to respond to what lies ahead for the economy.
Crude oil inventories in the US decreased by 1.8 million barrels during the week ending December 5, after adding a modest 600,000 barrels in the week prior, according to new data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday.
The EIA’s data release follows figures from the American Petroleum Institute (API) that were released a day earlier, which suggested that crude oil inventories fell by 4.8 million barrels.
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