Reputable insiders at the commission claimed that in addition to Binance, the EFCC was targeting all cryptocurrency platforms and other parties engaged in manipulating the foreign exchange market in Nigeria.
“The EFCC is going after all currency speculators to stabilise Nigerian forex,” a source stated.
As per an additional source, the commission is targeting not just Binance but also other cryptocurrency exchanges and compliance, which has been contributing to market stabilization.
When questioned about the development, EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale responded by saying that the commission was taking all legal measures to maintain order in the nation’s forex market.
“The commission is making every effort within the legal boundaries to maintain stability in the Nigerian foreign exchange market,” he declared.
A few analysts covering the foreign exchange market have reported that it was the commercial banks’ interbank transactions that caused the dollar’s small increase versus the naira between Wednesday and Friday.
Agba Akin, a money market analyst, shared a picture of the P2P trading platform on X on Friday along with the caption, “The dollar has been rising at BDC since Wednesday. Here’s why.” The Binance emergency enthusiasts have returned to speculate on alternative P2P applications.
“They’ll keep adding N50 every day until they recover their loss and get it back to 2,500, which was their original intention. CBN, take immediate action.
“The problem with speculative manipulation is even if CBN keeps bidding dollars to BDC at a low rate, the prevailing speculated rate will lord over the market and you’ll be forced to sell at that price to keep afloat,” reacted a BDC operator known only as Yasir Arafat Jubril@oil_shaeikh. All speculative sites must face strict enforcement from CBN.
They are ignorant and will accuse us of being the BDC behind Nigeria’s issues if we discuss. We never artificially increased the value of the naira by 50 to 100 per day during the 40 years that BDC has been in business, until the P2P ojukokoro lads arrived with their lack of fear of God.
Almustapha Muhammad, the Chairman of the Adhoc Committee of the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria, spoke with Sunday PUNCH.
“Some people just want to put it at the BDCs,” he remarked. In actuality, the dollar increased as a result of interbank rates rather than BDCs. While banks are linked to the official rate set by the federal government, BDCs function as separate markets.
“The CBN is providing us with N1,101 worth of dollars, but some commercial banks are converting money between banks.” They convert using their naira and domestic account balances. However, the federal government is doing better than the parallel markets.
He continued, saying, “The CBN gave the dollar at N1,101 last week, but the parallel market sold at N950. Due to the fact that we sell for N950, some BDCs were even discouraged from bidding for a dollar collection at CBN as doing so automatically puts you at a loss. Sadly for the dollar, banks are currently handling their interbank transactions.
That’s what drove people to the black market, where they bought the currency at a discount and deposited it in commercial banks, automatically profiting N20, N40, or N60. After all, you automatically make that difference when you deposit a dollar into your domiciliary account and request that it be converted into naira. That’s precisely what took place.
“On this issue, I reached out to a source in the relevant security agency on this matter,” remarked Opeoluwa, an economist on X, in response. It has been reported as a “imminent danger” and is being investigated, according to reliable sources.
“They (the security agency) might have to reach out to them, as they did to Binance,” I’ve been informed.
Zakari Mijinyawa, the Head of Strategic Communication at the Office of the National Security Adviser, did not return calls from our correspondent.
