Investors are pulling out of collaborations and transactions in Nigeria as a result of the steps taken against Binance executives, especially in the web3 industry. According to Lucky Uwakwe, the chairman of Nigeria’s Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee (BICCoN), they bring up the government’s perceived animosity against business in Nigeria and the perceived lack of protection for it, using the Binance case as proof. Concerns from investors were voiced in an interview by Uwakwe, the leader of the intercommunity working group in Nigeria that includes the Blockchain Nigeria User Group (BNUG), the Cryptography Development Initiative of Nigeria (CDIN), and the Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SiBAN).
When investing in local Web3 startups, investors worry about possible consequences that are similar to Binance’s fate, according to Uwakwe. He made note of the parties who have already invested gradually pulling out.
Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, executives of Binance, visited Nigeria in February in response to allegations that the exchange had manipulated the naira, the nation’s fiat currency. After the executives met with the Nigerian government to discuss Binance’s regulatory issues, they were taken into custody and charged with five offenses that involved money laundering.
According to Uwakwe, the country as a whole is being negatively impacted by the government’s handling of the Binance issue. The government is essentially destroying the whole business by pursuing fines on Binance, forgoing future growth in favor of band-aid fixes.
Uwakwe voiced doubt when asked if he thought the Binance executives will be found not guilty in the current trial. From the government’s point of view, he thinks the executives have little chance of being found not guilty unless some internal requirements are fulfilled by the business. He said“The chances are probably 90-10, 90 for the government,10 for the Binance executives in question…” He underlined that there’s a good chance the Nigerian government will disobey the court decision even in the event that the judge clears the Binance executive. This pattern has been seen previously, particularly in situations where the stability of the nation was thought to be in jeopardy. He responded to a possible inquiry from the global community regarding the reason behind the Nigerian cryptocurrency community’s lack of fervent support for the release of the Binance executives. He proposed that Binance would have had support from advocacy groups and pressure groups if they had gotten in touch with the right associations sooner.
The Nigerian authorities and cryptocurrency exchanges have frequently clashed. After being singled out by the Nigerian government in February for criticism of cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance stopped utilizing the naira on March 8.
According to the volume of Google searches for “cryptocurrency” or “buy crypto,” Nigeria was dubbed the nation most interested with cryptocurrencies in August 2022.