ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria has filed a lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Binance, seeking to compel the company to pay $79.5 billion for economic losses caused by its operations in the country and $2 billion for two years of back taxes, court documents seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday.
Binance had no immediate comment, but has previously said it is working with Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to resolve potential historic tax liabilities.
The world’s largest crypto exchange is facing four counts of tax evasion in Nigeria after a government crackdown on the industry last year.
It is contesting the charges.
Authorities blame Binance for Nigeria’s currency woes and detained two of its executives in 2024 after cryptocurrency websites emerged as platforms of choice for trading the local naira currency.
The company is also facing separate money laundering charges by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, which it has denied.
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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