“Nigeria has never been a big market for us,” Binance CEO Richard Teng says

Richard Teng, CEO of the largest crypto exchange Binance, has dispelled some notions about Binance’s activities in Nigeria.

In a blog post on the Binance website on Tuesday, Richard Teng, who became the CEO in November 2023 when Changpeng Zhao stepped down following prosecution in the US, demanded the release of Tigran Gambaryan, the Binance executive who has been detained in Nigeria since February. He also stated that contrary to widespread notion, Nigeria is not part of his company’s biggest market and Binance is not responsible for naira depreciation.

Recall we wrote about how the Nigerian authorities have detained Tigran Gambaryan, an executive of Binance, for six months. He alongside Nadeem Anjarwalla was arrested on February 26 although the latter eventually escaped detention under bizarre circumstances.

Related post: 6 months in detention: Family of Binance’s Tigran Gambaryan lament about deteriorating health

Statement from Richard Teng

In a blog post on Tuesday, the Binance chief said baseless allegations shouldn’t be used to continue to detain Tigran Gambaryan, who has now spent half a year in incarceration. 

According to him, the reason that the Nigerian government has used to justify continuing to hold Tigran is that Binance operates virtually and they can only hold on to the defendant. However, Richard Teng says this statement is not true and there is no need to imprison an innocent employee to answer for any allegations against Binance. 

In his words, the company has settled issues in a reasonable, collaborative, and amicable manner with governments in countries around the world, including the US, Thailand, and most recently in Brazil and India.

“All these were done without threat or harm inflicted on our employees.” Richard Teng stated.

Naira decline allegations 

Recall that amongst a few other reasons, the Nigerian authorities cited naira depreciation for the clampdown on crypto exchanges. According to them, peer-to-peer (p2p) markets on exchanges like Binance were responsible for the naira fall. 

Richard Teng noted that the claim isn’t backed by facts. According to him, the Naira traded in a relatively narrow range between 1:380 and 1:440 to USD between 2021 and the end of 2022 and Binance had been offering P2P services as a value-added service for its Nigerian users during that time. 

Crediting Steve H. Hanke, a professor of applied economics at The Johns Hopkins University, in an article published in March, the Binance chief pointed to the end of the Naira’s currency peg by the government in June 2023 as the cause of the biggest fall in Naira’s history.

“It went from USD1:460 in June 2023 to USD1:900 by the end of 2023. The downward trend continued since. The Naira traded at a recent low of USD1:1,660 on July 31, 2024, representing a 50% decline from the start of 2024. This downward trend continued despite Binance ceasing to offer P2P services in the country in February 2024.”

Read also: Fraudulent USDT transaction: court freezes N178 million in 8 Nigerian bank accounts 

Nigeria has never been a big market for Binance

It is often believed that as one of the countries with the largest base of crypto enthusiasts and users in Africa, Nigeria is a major market for Binance and other crypto companies. This could have been the line of thought when Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, claimed in June that Binance’s operation in Nigeria fetched it $20 billion in 2023 alone. 

However, Richard Teng has not only said Nigeria has never mattered for Binance, he also said $21.6B  is the total transaction volume from 2023. 

“To provide an understanding of transaction volume: if a person were to take $1000 and trade it 1000 times, that would represent $1m in transaction volume. Our actual revenue is based on charging a small percentage of transaction fees, and we are proud to offer our users some of the lowest fees of any exchange globally.”

Richard Teng concluded the statement by calling on the American government and political apparatus to exert political will and muscle to take Tigran home soon so that he could get adequate treatment and be reunited with his family and loved ones.

Additionally, he assures the Nigerian government that when the issue is resolved, Binance hopes to work with them to support the development of the Web3 industry, create more opportunities for its young, talented workforce, and support the effort to attract more foreign direct investment.