Nicholas Anthony, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, stated that the Nigerian government is "looking for anything other than its own actions to blame" for the fall of the naira. He suggested that they have "somehow named Binance as the culprit," resulting in the detention of two Binance employees. Anthony shared his statement on the Cato Institute's website on April 11.
"The naira is failing, and Nigerians are looking to alternatives," said Nicholas Anthony. "Yet, the Nigerian government is looking for anything other than its own actions to blame. In doing so, the government has somehow named Binance as the culprit for the naira's crash and detained two of its employees in the process."
According to Anthony's commentary, he views Nigerians' use of cryptocurrency as "a symptom, not a cause, of the naira’s failure." He pointed out that the government has been engaged in "years of currency mismanagement," which escalated tensions in February following "the naira’s most recent crash." At that time, Bayo Onanuga, an information and strategy advisor to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, stated that crypto should be banned "or else this bleeding of our currency will continue unabated." Subsequently, Nigerian authorities invited representatives from crypto exchange Binance to discuss the issue. The delegates sent were Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla. However, both were placed under house arrest by the Nigerian government. While Anjarwalla managed to escape, Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and former U.S. federal agent, remains detained and now faces charges including money laundering and tax evasion.
Steve H. Hanke, a professor of applied economics at The Johns Hopkins University, expressed his opinion on this matter to Federal Newswire. According to Hanke's statement reported by Federal Newswire, he believes that "The Nigerian government's claim that the collapse of the naira has been caused by crypto speculation is misguided and incorrect." Instead, Hanke attributes the devaluation of naira to a surge in its money supply growth leading to an inflation rate of 29.9%.
As reported by Premium Times, Nigerian lawmakers have expressed concerns over President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s actions towards the crypto industry. They have cast doubts on the claim that crypto companies are affecting foreign exchange rates and criticized the detention of the two Binance executives, warning that such actions could portray Nigeria in a negative light.
According to a post on Binance's website, Gambaryan is globally recognized as someone fully dedicated to law enforcement. He spent ten years as a U.S. federal agent investigating cases related to "national security, terrorism financing, identity theft, distribution of child pornography, tax evasion, and bank secrecy act violations." During his tenure in the U.S. Treasury Department’s IRS Criminal Investigations unit, Gambaryan worked alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the United States Secret Service.
The Cato Institute website provides information about Anthony's research focus on monetary and financial economics. He is an expert on topics including cryptocurrency, central bank digital currency, and financial privacy. Additionally, he holds a fellowship at the Human Rights Foundation.
