Nigerian authorities moved to freeze $38 million in crypto they say was sent to support protests against inflation in the country.
Nigeria has cracked down on crypto and Binance, the world’s largest exchange, for allegedly contributing to weakening its currency.
A Nigerian court issued an order to freeze almost $38 million of the $50 million in cryptocurrency authorities said was sent to support protests against the rising cost of living in the most populous African nation.
The Federal High Court in Abuja issued the order to freeze four wallets allegedly owned by organizers of the #EndBadGovernance protests at the request of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Premium Times reported, citing a copy of the decision on Tuesday.
National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu told a meeting involving the Council of State convened by President Bola Tinubu that “the government was able to trace $50m to crypto wallets that were made as donations to the protests. They succeeded in blocking four of those wallets containing $38m,” according to Punch.
According to Peoples Gazette, the crypto address showed zero balance and had never been operated.
Neither Ribadu nor the EFCC responded immediately to CoinDesk’s requests for comment.
Nigerians have been protesting against the rising cost of living. The country’s currency, the naira, has been sinking against the dollar for more than a year. That’s contribued to driving inflation to a 28-year high of 33.2%. The naira’s woes have been fueled, in part, by crypto trading, authorities have claimed.
Earlier this year, the Bank of Nigeria Governor Olayemi Cardoso said crypto exchange Binance had allowed $26 billion of funds to leave the country untraceably last year, hitting tax revenues. That kicked off a series of events that resulted in the detention of Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and a Binance official, who had been invited to the country for talks about the dispute.
