According to TechFlow, on September 12, Bitcoin.comNews reported that the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was approved by the court to freeze more than $330,000 (about 54.86 million naira) in the bank accounts of multiple cryptocurrency users. The EFCC accused these users of trading activities on platforms such as KuCoin and Bybit, which caused the Nigerian currency Naira to continue to depreciate.
In court documents, EFCC investigator Okoro Philip pointed to cryptocurrency trading on KuCoin and Bybit as the main reason for the depreciation of the naira. He said that the exchange of USDT for naira and other currencies on these platforms artificially depressed the value of the naira. At the same time, the EFCC also accused these trading platforms of failing to comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations.
The naira has lost about 70% of its value since the beginning of the year. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently intervened to sell dollars to money changers at a discount to the official foreign exchange market in an attempt to stop the naira from falling further. Analysts believe that unless Nigeria can effectively control demand for dollars, the naira's depreciation trend may continue.
