Mr. Olubukola Akinwumi, Deputy Director at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), explained on Friday how Nigerians trading on Binance Holdings Limited’s platform use false names in the transactions.

Olubukola, who is the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s 2nd prosecution witness (PW-2) in the ongoing trial of Binance and its executive, Tigran Gambaryan, told Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja while giving his testimony.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the EFCC has filed a five-count charge against Binance and Gambaryan (1st and 2nd defendants) bordering on money laundering offences.

The anti-graft agency had accused Binance and Gambaryan of money laundering involving $35.4 million.

Besides, the company was under suspicion of alleged terrorism financing.

Led in evidence by EFCC’s lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho, on Friday, Akinwumi, who heads the Payment Policy and Regulation Division in the Payments System Management Department of CBN, said the apex bank did not issue any licence to the cryptocurrency firm to operate in Nigeria.

“In the course of carrying out our operations, we normally monitor development within the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission); monitoring the activities of payment service providers and the usage of the payment system.

“We observed, in doing that, that Binance provides a trading platform where users trade virtual assets.

“And to consummate their transactions for the purpose of settlement of payments, the users make use of the payment system for the purpose of transferring or making payment to one another.

“These traders normally trade in pseudo names (pseudonyms) that hide their identities and they are not authorised by the CBN,” he said.

The PW-2 described virtual assets as “digital representations of values created by computer systems that can be digitally traded, transferred or used in payments.”

He said they discovered that users of the platform received and made payments or transferred payments to one another using the payment system to consummate transactions on the Binance peer-to-peer (P2P) platform.

“Binance Platform provides a trading place or marketplace for traders and users of virtual assets, otherwise known as cryptocurrency.

“The platform also provides other services like electronic wallets fiat wallet, publishing of exchange rate, etc,” he told the court.

Asked where the activities of Binance are carried out, Akinwumi said its “activities are conducted on its website; binance.com and through its mobile apps (applications).

“They have two variations of Binance Apps; Binance Pro or Binnace Lite.”

Asked what P2P means, the witness said: “P2P means Peer to Peer, and for basic translation, it can also mean person to person.

“What that means is that if a particular user does not want to trade with the platform but rather will like to trade with another user, P2P is a service that brings such two users as described to engage each other in transacting for the purpose of buying or selling virtual asset, cryptocurrency and fiat directly between the two users.

“This is done by quoting rates with offers to sell or buy at the quoted rate.

“The P2P Platform of Binance provides such service to such two users to come to an agreement on such trade.

“Once such understanding for the trade is reached by the two users on Binance platform, the selling party will provide a bank account to which the buying party can send the naira amount or transfer into the account provided by the selling party.

“Once the buying party transferred the amount agreed, he clicks on a particular icon on the Binance platform to communicate the fiat that he has transferred the amount to the selling party.

“The Binance platform will, on the side of the selling party, await confirmation based on which it will release the cryptocurrency or fiat currency traded on the platform.

“So the Binance platform facilitates all the processes or P2P transactions as I have just enumerated, either using a Nigerian bank account already stored by users on the Binance platform or the naira wallet account, provided by the Binance platform.”

Submission of certified true copies of documents made available to SEC by Binance which was equally made available to the investigating team at the office of the National Security Adviser, and pages generated on the firm’s website were tendered in evidence and marked as Exhibits 8 and 9 by the judge.

Taking the witness through Exhibits 8 and 9, Iheanacho asked him to tell the court more about the nature of the transactions.

Akinwumi said Page 2 of Exhibit 8 introduced Binance as the world’s leading crypto exchange with users from over 190 countries.

“They have on the page, the address of the website in full which is Https://www.binance.com.

“Binance has what is called Binance Academy. That is on page 16 of Exhibit 8.

“Some of the videos will be on their YouTube platform which they use in educating those who are interested in the services that they provide,” he said.

The PW-2 said the firm equally has Binance coins and that on its website, it gives the description of the coin as “NGN” (Naira).

“On page 21 of Exhibit 8, it listed the ways to use Binance coin,” he added.

Akinwumi said on Page 9 of Exhibit 9, there is information which reads: “Depositing and withdrawing NGN (Naira) on Binance via cash link; it is swift and simple.”

The witness, however, explained that depositing and withdrawing Naira which “NGN” stands for, is a regulated activity carried out by banks and other financial institutions duly registered by CBN.

He said another piece of information on Exhibit 9 reads: “To help Binance users in Nigeria understand this Fiat Gateway, Binance has been holding various events such as the Binance Cash Link, Live Master Class to educate users on cash link and why it is an excellent method of deposit and withdrawal on the Binance platform.”

“Generally, Exhibit 9 explains to Nigerians on how to deposit Naira on the Nigerians wallet on the Binance platform.”

He said there is a statement on a page which says “Binance does not charge deposit fees,” he said next to the statement, there is another message which says: “For each withdrawal, a flat fee is paid by users to cover the transaction cost of moving the cryptocurrency out of their Binance account.

“So as I explained earlier, Binance maintains accounts and it needs revenue for its services

“On Page 2 of Exhibit 9, under the Fiat Section, it shows the rates that are applied for regular users.”

After concluding his evidence, Justice Nwite adjourned the matter until July 16 for cross-examination of PW-2.

US job gains eased slightly in June while unemployment edged up, government data showed Friday, in a sign that the world’s biggest economy is cooling steadily.

READ ALSO:Canada job numbers flat for a second month in June

Wage growth decelerated, although it still outpaced consumer inflation. But this has not translated into rosy sentiment over the broader economy, adding to President Joe Biden’s challenges as he seeks reelection.

The country added 206,000 jobs last month, the Labour Department said, marking a slower pace of hiring than May’s revised 218,000 figure.

The gains still beat a Briefing.com consensus estimate of 185,000, signalling that the labor market remains relatively resilient despite high interest rates.

The jobless rate ticked up from 4.0 percent to 4.1 percent.

For now, the figures point to a “very gradual, orderly cooling” in the market, ZipRecruiter chief economist Julia Pollak told AFP.

But she pointed to signs of weakness, including downward revisions to April and May hiring numbers by a cumulative 111,000.

The uptick in unemployment, though narrow, also marks the highest level since November 2021 — ending a 30-month stretch where the rate stood at or below 4.0 per cent.

• -‘Slowing’ market –
  More than one-third of overall gains came from government employment, noted Mike Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association. This means that headline gains do not paint a full picture of the labor market’s health.

“Other aspects of the data indicate a slowing job market,” he said in a note.

Temporary hires dropped by 49,000, indicating that business demand for labor is falling, Fratantoni said.

Wage growth slowed from 0.4 percent in May to 0.3 percent last month.

Compared with a year ago, the increase was 3.9 percent — also easing from before.

“Weakening demand for labor will lead to further moderation in wage growth,” said economist Nancy Vanden Houten of Oxford Economics.

But this is likely to bolster the Federal Reserve’s confidence that inflation is on a downward path to policymakers’ two percent target.

• -Rate cut? –
  The latest report comes on the back of a slump in activity in the manufacturing and services sectors, alongside easing inflation.
• While there is some way to go, these indicators will likely give the US central bank more confidence to begin cutting interest rates — after holding them at a high level in recent months.

This move could, in turn, give the economy a boost.

Rubeela Farooqi, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics, expects the Fed could start talks about cutting rates at their next policy meeting.

They could “lower the policy rate in September, if the data continue to show moderation,” she said.

For now, she noted that even though wage growth has decelerated, the rates of change remain elevated compared to pre-pandemic trends.

On the data’s bearing on Fed policy, Pollak earlier told AFP: “The trend that matters most is continued disinflation in the various measures of consumer and producer prices.”

“The second-most important trend is deceleration in wage growth,” she said.

Canada’s unemployment rate rose slightly in June to 6.4 per cent as hiring stalled amid strong population growth, the government said Friday.

The 0.2 percentage point increase in the jobless rate continued an upward trend that started in April 2023.

A net loss of 1,400 jobs in June was a weaker-than-expected outcome following a little change in Canada’s employment situation the previous month, Desjardins analyst Royce Mendes said in a research note.

“The sharp rise in the unemployment rate (from a low of 4.8 per cent in July 2022) will have many questioning whether Canada has entered a recession,” he continued.

Statistics Canada suggested in a statement that “people are facing greater difficulties finding work in the current labour market.”

The agency pointed to data showing the proportion of long-term unemployed Canadians has risen alongside the rising unemployment rate.

This appeared to be the case, especially for older unemployed persons aged 55 or older, who on average have now been jobless for 27 weeks or more, it said.

Youth unemployment was also up in the month, hitting young men the hardest.

Wages, meanwhile, continued to rise at a brisk pace.

Overall, the number of people working in transportation and warehousing, as well as in public administration declined in June, while more people were employed in accommodation and food services, and in agriculture.

Canada’s population, meanwhile, surpassed 41 million on April 1, up by one million in the past 10 months as immigration surged.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned commercial banks over their rejection of dirty and mutilated naira banknotes from depositors, adding that they will face sanctions.

The CBN issued this warning in a circular dated June 28, 2024, and signed by Director, Currency Operations Department, Solaja Mohammed Olayemi.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has received several reports of rejection of dirty/mutilated Naira banknotes by some Deposit Money Banks (DMBs),” the circular read.

“Consequently, it has become imperative to remind DMBs that the CBN circular dated July 2, 2019, reference number COD/DIR/GEN/CIR/01/006, which prescribes penalties for the rejection of Naira banknotes, is still enforceable and binding on erring DMBs.”

Going forward, the apex bank said it will not hesitate to apply strict sanctions on DMBs who are reported to have rejected deposits of naira banknotes from the public under any guise.

Olayemi added in the circular addressed to all DMBs and the general public, saying “Mutilating naira notes or coins is a punishable offence according to the law (CBN Act Section 21).

Rejecting naira is also against the law (Section 20 subsection 5).”

KuCoin, a cryptocurrency exchange, has announced that it will start collecting a 7.5 per cent Value-Added Tax on transaction fees for users in Nigeria, effective July 8, 2024.

The company made this disclosure in a statement posted on its X account on Wednesday.

“We are writing to inform you of an important regulatory update that impacts our users from Nigeria,” KuCoin said.

“Starting from July 8th, 2024, we will begin collecting a Value-Added Tax (“VAT”) at a rate of 7.5% on transaction fees in each trade for users whose KYC information is registered in Nigeria.”

KuCoin disclosed that the VAT will be charged on the transaction fees, which range from 0.1% to 0.05%, and not on the total transaction amount.

This means that if a user buys $1,000 worth of Bitcoin with a 0.1 per cent fee rate, the transaction fee would be $1.

The VAT would be 7.5 per cent of the fee, which is $0.075. The net amount for the transaction would be $998.925.

KuCoin, however, urged users to note that the VAT will be applied to the transaction fees in each trade, not the transaction amount, and covers all transaction types on KuCoin platform.

The Finance Act 2023 (FA2023, or the Act), which former President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law on May 28, 2023, introduces significant changes to the existing tax laws and regulatory framework, aiming to foster economic growth, enhance fiscal stability and promote sustainable development.

The FA2023 seeks to provide support for the funding of the 2023 Budget of Fiscal Consolidation and Transition.

The Act aims to strike a balance between fiscal stability and economic growth while addressing emerging challenges in the digital economy, ensuring sustainable economic growth and improving the tax administration.

The Act introduces changes to the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) Act, Companies Income Tax (CIT) Act, Personal Income Tax (PIT) Act, Customs and Excise Tariff Etc. (Consolidation) Act (CETA), Value Added Tax (VAT) Act, Petroleum Profits Tax (PPT) Act, Stamp Duties Act (SDA), Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (CPORO) Act, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Establishment) Act, Public Procurement Act (PPA) and the Ministry of Finance (Incorporated) {MoFI} Act.

The commencement date of these amendments is now September 1 2023, in line with the Finance Act (Effective Date Variation) Order, 2023, which was signed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on July 6, 2023.
The Act also made slight modifications to its predecessors, the Finance Acts 2019, 2020 and 2021, to clarify some of the changes introduced by these Acts and align them more with the government’s fiscal plans and current economic realities.