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Behind the arrest of a Binance employee in Nigeria, lies a request for a bribe

Published

7 months ago

7 May, 2024

Behind the arrest of a Binance employee in Nigeria, lies a request for a bribe

While traveling in Nigeria in January, Tigran Gambaryan, a compliance officer for the giant cryptocurrency exchange Binance, received a disturbing message: the company had 48 hours to make a payment of about $150 million in cryptocurrencies.

Mr. Gambaryan, a former U.S. law enforcement officer, interpreted the message as a request for a bribe from someone in the Nigerian government, according to five people familiar with the matter and the messages reviewed by The New York Times. He and a group of Binance colleagues had just met with Nigerian lawmakers, who accused the company of tax violations and threatened to arrest its employees.

Binance officials fled Nigeria in panic. Later that month, Mr. Gambaryan wrote a three-page report describing the payment demand and gave it to Binance lawyers, two people familiar with the report said. He also alerted Nigerian government contacts, the people said, and told them about the incident.

The episode was the backdrop to a second trip to Nigeria that Mr. Gambaryan made in February. Upon his return, he and a colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla, were arrested by Nigerian authorities, sparking a crisis at Binance.

Mr. Gambaryan was detained in Kuje Prison in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, for the past four weeks, after being transferred there from a government compound on April 8. His case is the latest legal headache for Binance, which has agreed to a $4.3 billion fine last year to resolve allegations made by the U.S. government that it allowed criminal activity to flourish on its platform. In April, the company’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, was condemned to four months in prison for his role in these violations.

Nigerian authorities have accused both Binance and Mr. Gambaryan of tax evasion and money laundering. Binance has denied that Mr. Gambaryan had some “decision-making power” within the company.

“The message from the Nigerian government is clear,” Binance CEO Richard Teng wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. “We must detain an innocent mid-level employee and former US federal agent and place him in a dangerous prison so we can control Binance.”

Zakari Mijinyawa, a spokesperson for Nigeria’s national security adviser, said in a text that the Nigerian government will argue its case “based on facts and evidence, in accordance with due process.”

“We are confident that Nigeria has good reasons,” Mijinyawa said. “Binance will similarly have every opportunity under the rule of law to make its case and see justice done.”

In the blog post, Teng told the story of Binance’s engagement with Nigeria, which has become a hot spot for the cryptocurrency industry. She has the second highest rate of cryptocurrency adoption in the world behind India, according to Chainalysis, a data firm.

In 2023, Nigerian financial regulators released a statement ordering Binance to stop soliciting investors in Nigeria. Binance stopped its advertising in the country and offered to meet with government officials, Teng said.

But tensions continued to rise. In recent months, Nigerian officials have argued that trading on Binance contributed to the collapse of the country’s currency, the naira. And in December, a committee of the Nigerian House of Representatives requested that Binance representatives appear for a hearing.

On January 8, Gambaryan and a group of Binance employees met with these lawmakers. The meeting soon turned contentious: Lawmakers read aloud a list of charges against Binance, including tax violations. They also threatened to issue an arrest warrant for Mr Teng, the blog post said.

As Binance employees left the meeting, Mr. Teng wrote, they were approached by “unknown persons” who suggested they make a payment to resolve the charges. Later, a local lawyer representing Binance spoke to someone purporting to be an agent of the House committee, Mr. Teng wrote.

The alleged agent requested “a significant payment in cryptocurrency to be made in secret within 48 hours to resolve these issues,” Teng wrote. The amount was about $150 million, four people familiar with the matter said.

“Our team became increasingly concerned about their safety in Nigeria and left immediately,” Mr Teng wrote in his post. “We, of course, rejected the request for payment through our lawyer, not considering it a legitimate settlement offer.”

After leaving Nigeria in January, Mr. Gambaryan discussed the incident with colleagues and released his report describing the demand for payment, two people familiar with the matter said.

Later that month, Gambaryan began arranging meetings with Nigerian officials responsible for security and financial crimes. At the time, she noted that senior leaders in the Financial Crimes Bureau were eager to discuss what had happened at the Jan. 8 meeting, a person familiar with the conversations said.

In a text message last month, Dele Oyewale, spokesman for Nigeria’s Financial Crimes Commission, declined to comment on the payment solicitation. She did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

In his post on Tuesday, Mr Teng wrote that Binance had received assurances that Mr Gambaryan would be safe if he returned to Nigeria. A corporate consultant with deep local ties recommended that Binance officials meet with the office of Nigeria’s national security adviser, Teng wrote.

Gambaryan and Anjarwalla arrived at the meeting on February 26. After a couple of hours of discussion, Teng writes, a Nigerian financial crime official took Gambaryan aside and told him that “everything was going well.”

Then several Nigerian officials entered the room, demanding Binance provide granular information about its users in Nigeria, a request the company was unwilling to comply with. The passports of Mr Gambaryan and Mr Anjarwalla were confiscated, and the two men were held for three weeks in a secure compound. On March 22, their lawyers received word that criminal charges were coming.

Mr Anjarwalla ran away the next day. He left Nigeria and has not spoken publicly since.

Mr. Gambaryan was alone in the compound. Shortly after his arrival, Nigerian financial crime officials sent a note to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, according to a copy of the message seen by the Times.

“It is important to emphasize that Mr. Tigran is currently in discussions with our team and the purpose of his stay is solely for the purpose of constructive dialogue,” the letter reads. “We assure you that the individual willingly participates.”

Mr Gambaryan was soon transferred to Kuje, a notorious facility where the Islamic State staged a prison break in 2022.

The trial was supposed to begin last Thursday, but the court postponed it to May 17.

Julian E. Barnes and Glenn Thrush contributed reporting from Washington and Sunday Isuwa from Abuja, Nigeria.

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Cryptocurrency Price August 1: Bitcoin Dips Below $65K; Solana, XRP Down Up To 8%

Published

4 months ago

1 August, 2024

BlockChainBulletin Staff

Major cryptocurrencies fell in Thursday trading following the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep its key interest rate unchanged. Overnight, the U.S. Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate at 5.25-5.5% for the eighth consecutive time, as expected, while also signaling the possibility of a rate cut at its next meeting in September. The unanimous decision by the Federal Open Market Committee reflects a continued wait-and-see approach as it monitors inflation trends.

CoinSwitch Markets Desk said: “Bitcoin has fallen below $65,000 after the US Federal Reserve announced it would keep interest rates unchanged. However, with markets now anticipating rate cuts at the next Federal Reserve meeting in September, the outlook for a Bitcoin rally by the end of the year has strengthened.”

Meanwhile, CoinDCX research team said: “The crypto market has plunged after the Fed decision. Tomorrow’s US unemployment rate announcement is expected to induce more volatility, with the ‘actual’ figure coming in higher than the ‘expected’ one, which is positive for cryptocurrencies.”

At 12:21 pm IST, Bitcoin (BTC) was down 3.2% at $64,285, while Ethereum was down nearly 4.5% at $3,313. Meanwhile, the global market cryptocurrency The market capitalization fell 3.6% to around $2.3 trillion in the last 24 hours.

“Bitcoin needs to clear its 200-day EMA at $64,510 to consolidate further. Otherwise, a retest of $62,000 could be in the cards,” said Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus.

Altcoins and meme coins, such as BNB (3%), Solana (8%), XRP (5.7%), Dogecoin (5%), Cardano (4.6%), Avalanche (4.3%), Shiba Inu (3.8%), Polkadot (3.4%), and Chainlink (4%) also saw declines.

The volume of all stablecoins is now $71.64 billion, which is 92.19% of the total cryptocurrency market volume in 24 hours, according to data available on CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 54.99%. BTC volume in the last 24 hours increased by 23.3% to $35.7 billion.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, opinions and views provided by experts are personal. They do not represent the views of the Economic Times)

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Altcoins WIF, BONK, RUNE, JUP Down 10% While Bitcoin Drops 4%

Published

4 months ago

1 August, 2024

BlockChainBulletin Staff

Altcoins WIF, BONK, RUNE and JUP drop 10% as Bitcoin recedes 4%

Altcoins dogwifhat, Bonk, THORChain, and Jupiter have suffered losses of more than 10%, while Bitcoin is down 4% in the last 24 hours.

After a period of relative calm yesterday, July 31, Bitcoin (BTC) price action has seen a drastic change as the cryptocurrency dropped by more than $3,500, bringing its value to $63,300. At the same time, altcoins mirrored this trend, with the total value of liquidated positions rising to nearly $225 million over the course of the day.

Initially, the week started on a positive note for Bitcoin, which reached its highest point since early June, hitting $70,000. However, this peak was short-lived, as it was quickly rejected, leading to a substantial decline, with Bitcoin falling below $65,500.

The cryptocurrency managed to regain some stability, trading comfortably at around $66,800. However, following a Press conference According to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, the value of Bitcoin has fallen again to $64,300, down more than 3% in 24 hours.

BTC Price Chart 24 Hours | Source: crypto.news

The recession coincided with a relationship from the New York Times stating that Iran had called for retaliatory measures against Israel following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, increasing the risk of further conflict in the region.

Meanwhile, on the economic front, the Federal Reserve decided to keep its benchmark interest rates in place, offering little information on a planned September rate cut. Powell also hinted that while no concrete decisions have been made on the September adjustment, there is growing consensus that a rate cut is likely.

Amid Bitcoin’s decline, altcoins have suffered even more significant losses. For example, dogwifhat (Wife) saw a 12.4% drop and (DISGUST) has suffered a 10% drop. Other altcoins such as THORChain (RUNE) also fell by 10%, while Jupiter (JUPITER) and the Ethereum naming service (ENS) decreased by 8% and 9% respectively.

Among the largest-cap cryptocurrencies, the biggest losers are Solana (SOL) with a decrease of 8%, (Exchange rate risk) down 6%, Cardano (ADA) down 4%, and both Ethereum (ETH) and Dogecoin (DOGE) recording a decrease of 4.4%.

Data from CoinGlass indicates that approximately 67,000 traders have been negatively impacted by this increased volatility. BTC positions have seen $61.85 million in liquidations, while ETH positions have faced $61 million. In total, the value of liquidated positions stands at $225.4 million at the time of writing.

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Riot Platforms Sees 52% Drop in Bitcoin Production in Q2

Published

4 months ago

1 August, 2024

BlockChainBulletin Staff

Riot Platforms posts 52% decrease in Bitcoin production for Q2

Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms has released its second-quarter financial results, highlighting a decline in cryptocurrency mined due to the recent halving.

Colorado-based Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Riot platforms revealed its second quarter financial results, highlighting a significant reduction in mined cryptocurrencies attributed to the recent halving event that took place in early April.

The company reported total revenue of $70 million for the quarter ended July 31, a decline of 8.7% compared to the same period in 2023. Riot Platforms attributed the revenue decline primarily to a $9.7 million decrease in engineering revenue, which was partially mitigated by a $6 million increase in Bitcoin extraction income.

During the quarter, the company mined 844 BTC, representing a decline of over 50% from Q2 2023, citing the halving event and increasing network difficulty as major factors behind the decline. Riot Platforms reported a net loss of $84.4 million, or $0.32 per share, missing Zacks Research forecast a loss of $0.16 per share.

Halving increases competitive pressure

The Colorado-based firm said the average cost of mining one BTC in the second quarter, including energy credits, rose to $25,327, a remarkable 341% increase from $5,734 per BTC in the same quarter of 2023. Despite this significant increase in production costs, the firm remains optimistic about maintaining competitiveness through recent deals.

For example, following the Recent acquisition Cryptocurrency firm Block Mining, Riot has increased its distributed hash rate forecast from 31 EH/s to 36 EH/s by the end of 2024, while also increasing its 2025 forecast from 40 EH/s to 56 EH/s.

Riot Platforms Hashrate Growth Projections by 2027 | Source: Riot Platforms

Commenting on the company’s financials, Riot CEO Jason Les said that despite the halving, the mining company still managed to achieve “significant operational growth and execution of our long-term strategy.”

“Despite this reduction in production available to all Bitcoin miners, Riot reported $70 million in revenue for the quarter and maintained strong gross margins in our core Bitcoin mining business.”

Jason Les

Following its Q2 financial report, Riot Platforms shares fell 1.74% to $10.19, according to Google Finance data. Meanwhile, the American miner continues to chase Canadian rival Bitfarms, recently acquiring an additional 10.2 million BITF shares, increasing its stake in Bitfarms to 15.9%.

As previously reported by crypto.news, Riot was the first announced a $950 million takeover bid for Bitfarms in late May, arguing that Bitfarms’ founders were not acting in the best interests of all shareholders. They said their proposal was rejected by Bitfarms’ board without substantive engagement.

In response, Bitfarms She said that Riot’s offer “significantly understates” its growth prospects. Bitfarms subsequently implemented a shareholder rights plan, also known as a “poison pill,” to protect its strategic review process from hostile takeover attempts.

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Aave Price Increases Following Whales Accumulation and V3.1 Launch

Published

4 months ago

1 August, 2024

BlockChainBulletin Staff

Aave price surges amid whale accumulation and V3.1 launch

Decentralized finance protocol Aave is seeing a significant spike in whale activity as the market looks to recover from the recent crash that pushed most altcoins into key support areas earlier this week.

July 31, Lookonchain shared details indicating that the whales had aggressively accumulated Aave (AAVE) over the past two days. According to the data, whales have withdrawn over 58,848 AAVE worth $6.47 million from exchanges during this period.

In one instance, whale address 0x9af4 withdrew 11,185 AAVE worth $1.23 million from Binance. Meanwhile, another address moved 21,619 AAVE worth over $2.38 million from the exchange and deposited the tokens into Aave.

These withdrawals follow a previous transfer of 26,044 AAVE from whale address 0xd7c5, amounting to over $2.83 million withdrawn from Binance.

AAVE price has surged over 7% in the past 24 hours amid buy-side pressure from these whales. The DeFi token is currently trading around $111 after jumping over 18% in the past week.

Recently, the price of AAVE increased by over 8% after Aave founder Marc Zeller announced a proposed fee change aimed at adopting a buyback program for AAVE tokens.

Aave v3.1 is available

The total value locked in the Aave protocol currently stands at around $22 billion. According to DeFiLlamaApproximately $19.9 billion is on Aave V3, while the V2 chain still holds approximately $1.9 billion in TVL and V1 approximately $14.6 million.

Aave Labs announced Previously, Aave V3.1 was made available on all networks with active Aave V3 instances.

V3.1 features improvements that are intended to improve the overall security of the DeFi protocol. The Aave DAO governance has approved the v3.1 improvements, which also include operational efficiency and usability for the network.

Meanwhile, Aave Labs recently outlined a ambitious roadmap for the projectwith a 2030 vision for Aave V4, among other developments.

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