Our problem is with Binance, not ‘crypto’: Nigerian minister

Nigeria has pledged its support for the digital asset sector despite its purge of offshore exchanges in 2024 and the ongoing $81.5 billion lawsuit against Binance.

The West African nation is the continent’s largest digital asset market and one of the world leaders in adoption. However, recent enforcement actions, which led to the shutdown of global exchanges like Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) and KuCoin, have dampened the sector, leading to a drastic dip in stablecoin volume last year. In February 2025, the government also filed a lawsuit against Binance, demanding $79 billion for economic losses and $2 billion in back taxes, which would be the biggest fine in the sector.

Still, the Nigerian government is committed to promoting the growth of the digital asset sector, says Information Minister Mohammed Idris.

In a recent interview, the minister said the government is out to protect investors, “not to cripple anybody.” Regardless of the company size, no VASP will be allowed to operate in Nigeria without the proper licensing, he added.

Binance has accused the Nigerian government of overreach and demanding $150 million in bribes to release the exchange’s official Tigran Gambaryan, who was detained for eight months.

In an interview, Biannce CEO Richard Teng stated that the Nigerian government’s actions against the exchange “were not warranted.” He added that the exchange had tried to work with the government, but Nigeria was allegedly not interested in an amicable resolution.

However, as other officials have done previously, Minister Idris dismissed Binance’s accusation as mere antics to strong-arm the government.

“There are other companies operating in the crypto sector in Nigeria, you don’t see them [facing charges],” he told Semafor.

The Nigerian government has since implemented a new licensing framework for VASPs, issuing its first pair of licenses to local exchanges Busha and Quidax in 2024. Another batch of applications is being fast-tracked to be issued this year.

Nigeria is targeting a much bigger settlement. For context, the $81 billion the government demands is more than twice the country’s 2024 budget. The total penalty could be bigger as Binance faces another court case for facilitating money laundering.

Nigeria’s 59% drop in cash usage was the highest globally

Despite the recent rocky phase with the country’s digital currency journey, Nigeria’s digital payments have skyrocketed in the past decade, a new report shows.

The report by Ohio-based fintech firm Worldpay revealed that between 2014 and 2024, cash payments in the country had dropped 59%, the largest drop among cash-reliant major economies globally. Indonesia, the Philippines, and Mexico followed suit with 44%, 43% and 41% respectively.

Worldpay further projects that cash payments will drop another 32% by 2030. The company analyzed 40 economies representing nearly 90% of global GDP.

Nigeria’s digital payment revolution has been propelled by a combination of fintech innovations, mobile money adoption and enabling regulations, the report noted.

Despite the massive leap, Nigeria is still cash-reliant, especially for smaller day-to-day payments. A cash crunch that hit the country two years ago due to a note replacement exercise ground the economy to a halt, with millions of Nigerians stranded as thousands queued at ATMs awaiting cash deliveries by the central bank.

The central bank’s attempt to digitize payments via the eNaira has also failed catastrophically. Africa’s first central bank digital currency (CBDC) has been unable to gain the intended traction, leading to the rise of two new local stablecoins by the private sector.

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