What You Need to Know

Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is suing Binance for $79.5 billion in economic damages and $2 billion plus interest in overdue taxes. FIRS argues that Binance has a “significant economic presence” in Nigeria and should thus be liable for corporate income tax.

This latest claim marks a significant increase from the earlier demand of $10 billion, with the Nigerian government alleging that cryptocurrency transactions via the platform allowed $26 billion in untraceable funds to exit the country amidst a foreign exchange crisis.

FIRS has been pursuing legal action against Binance since last year, having detained two of its executives in February. Both Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla faced charges of money laundering and tax evasion before Gambaryan was released, while Anjarwalla fled the country.

Despite these developments, Binance has not yet provided a response to the allegations.