Blockchain
Binance: Nigeria orders cryptocurrency firm to pay $10bn
The Nigerian government says it has demanded almost $10bn (£8bn) in compensation from the cryptocurrency firm, Binance.
It says Binance manipulated foreign exchange rates through currency speculation and rate-fixing, which have seen the naira lose nearly 70% of its value in recent months.
Two Binance executives were arrested in Nigeria earlier in the week.
Binance has not responded to the BBC’s requests for comment.
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest economy and also one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency markets.
On Tuesday, Nigeria’s central bank governor Olayemi Cardoso said Binance Nigeria had moved $26bn worth of untraceable funds.
“These allegations are weighty,” Tilewa Adebajo CFG Advisory tells the BBC. “That’s a huge sum – even more than the annual Nigeria diaspora remittances of $24bn”.
“The government must have done their homework, hence the allegations.”
Cryptocurrency transactions equivalent to about 12% of Nigeria’s total income, or GDP, took place in the year to June 2023, according to Reuters news agency.
Cryptocurrencies are not illegal in Nigeria but firms must register in order to operate there, the government says. A special adviser to Nigeria’s president told the BBC that Binance had failed to do this.
After he came into office last year, President Bola Tinubu scrapped the policy of pegging the naira to the dollar, allowing traders to buy and sell the currency at rates determined by the market. But special advisor Bayo Onanuga said the recent collapse was not the result of normal activity.
“All of a sudden the exchange rate went through the roof… and it was being caused by the people on Binance platform,” he told the BBC Newsday programme.
“The government could not just fold its hands and allow this thing to continue.”
Binance is understood to be one of the most popular cryptocurrency platforms in the country.
To the frustration of Nigerian users, Binance and several other cryptocurrency firms have been suspended in the country in recent weeks including Coinbase, Kraken, Forextime, OctaFX, Crypto and FXTM in an attempt to halt the slide of the naira.
As well as the collapse of the naira, the government also says cryptocurrency is used for money-laundering and funding terror.
The “anonymity and privacy inherent in the cryptocurrency system are what draw individuals, particularly those with illicit intentions, towards its use,” said a recent report by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.
Central bank governor Mr Cardoso said on Tuesday that “illicit flows” had been spotted on some cryptocurrency platforms in Nigeria. No specific firms were named as culprits.
In another measure intended to curb foreign-currency trading, Nigeria has closed thousands of bureaux de change.
Nigeria’s central bank has been under pressure to stabilise the national currency, the naira, which currently exchanges at 1,595 naira to US$1, compared to about 460 a year ago.
The collapse of the naira has worsened the cost-of-living crisis. High food and commodity prices – including fuel and transport – have led to protests in recent weeks.
Source: BBC
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Alpine Web3 and Everdome are joining forces to push the boundaries of fan engagement through immersive digital experiences. Building on Alpine’s storied motorsport legacy, this partnership will bring fans closer to the action with metaverse pop-up spaces and interactive events.
As Alpine Web3 shifts its focus beyond motorsport, this collaboration aims to redefine sports marketing by merging the physical and digital worlds, offering fans a dynamic and innovative way to connect with their favorite teams and events.
Alpine is a brand with a long and successful history, founded in 1955 by Jean Rédélé and quickly building success across multiple motorsports disciplines. With titles across multiple motor racing disciplines such as the World Rally Championship, 24 Hours of Le Mans, success in F1® racing and the FIA WEC Endurance World Championship, Alpine has constantly innovated for success.
Now Alpine seeks to expand their innovation beyond motorsport, looking for ways to engage new audiences with experiential sports marketing as the real and digital worlds converge.
This two-way partnership will see Everdome work on a variety of experiential Alpine focussed destinations, kicking off with a series of metaverse pop-up spaces for Alpine Web3, released to coincide with the major sporting events across their race calendar, from Formula One® and beyond.
Everdome will also create interactive events with Alpine Web3 and their partners, allowing global audiences to take one step closer to the action as we explore the future of sports fan engagement together.
Last year, Everdome and Alpine first collaborated with an exclusive metaverse AMA with their F1® driver Pierre Gasly and Binance Fan Token, creating an interactive event where the audience could join with their avatar-likenesses inside a unique environment, bringing them closer to their racing heroes inside a digital world.
“Experiential marketing is on the rise as audiences react positively to immersive, interactive experiences which bring a feeling of deeper involvement with their sporting teams and heroes.’’ said Artur Kaczmarczyk, Chief Growth Officer for Everdome. “This new partnership will explore a future of sports fan engagement, creating a series of activations across the motorsports racing calendar to let global Alpine fans feel closer to the team, drivers and brand.’’
Beginning with metaverse spaces highlighting images and videos from Alpine inside fully interactive, avatar-led digital environments, Everdome will go on to create a dedicated and permanent metaverse footprint for Alpine Racing inside their digital headquarters, showcasing their glorious history, exciting present and promising future.
“This collaboration with Everdome underlines our commitment to constant innovation through leveraging the latest technology”, said Guillaume Vergnas, Head of Merchandising, Licensing, Esports & Web3 at Alpine. ‘’Motorsport has always been about passion, spectacle and interaction, and with Everdome we seek to allow audiences a taste of the spectacle in a novel digital world.’’
Everdome will introduce their large community of web3 followers and metaverse pioneers to Alpine’s exciting web3 ecosystem, paving the way for some exciting cross-project collaborations, activations and more across 2024 and beyond.
The post Everdome and Alpine Web3 Redefine Fan Engagement with Bold Metaverse Vision appeared first on HIPTHER Alerts.
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