Court Blocks Tens of Millions in Crypto Tied to Anti-Government Protests in Nigeria

A Nigerian court has issued a freeze on nearly $38 million in cryptocurrency out of a total $50 million that was allegedly donated to support protests against the country’s rising living expenses.

The Federal High Court in Abuja granted this order at the behest of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which identified and targeted four specific digital wallets associated with the #EndBadGovernance protest movement.

National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu disclosed during a Council of State meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu that $50 million in donations was traced to crypto wallets, with $38 million successfully blocked from four of these wallets.

Reports indicate that these wallets, however, showed no activity and had no recorded balance.

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The protests have been driven by Nigeria’s severe economic challenges, with the naira’s prolonged depreciation against the dollar contributing to a surge in inflation to 33.2%, the highest in decades. Officials blame part of this economic pressure on cryptocurrency trading. I

n a related matter, Bank of Nigeria Governor Olayemi Cardoso previously accused Binance of permitting $26 billion in funds to leave Nigeria without proper tracking, which impacted tax revenues and led to the detention of Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan, who was in Nigeria for discussions on the issue.

Alexander Stefanov