A Nigerian court has pushed the start of the $81 billion trial of global exchange Binance by three more weeks, Reuters reports.
In February, Nigeria filed a lawsuit against the exchange, demanding $79.5 billion for sabotaging its economy and an additional $2 billion in back taxes after operating for over five years without paying any. The lawsuit was set to commence at the start of April.
However, according to Reuters, a court in Abuja adjourned the trial to April 30 to give the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) time to respond to a motion by Binance challenging the taxman’s decision to serve court papers via email.
Binance’s lawyer, Chukwuka Ikwuazom, contested that the agency didn’t obtain a court order to serve the papers via email. He also argued that the FIRS didn’t get a court leave to serve Binance outside Nigeria. This plays into the hands of the exchange, which is registered in the Cayman Islands and doesn’t have any local office in Nigeria, despite a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) directive last year for all VASPs to have offices in the country with a locally-based CEO.
Binance coasted on this approach for years, refusing to establish physical headquarters, which helped it dodge local regulations and made it difficult for regulators to take action. However, authorities have wised up and, as evidenced by the imprisonment of its founder, are now cracking the whip.
Presenting his case in court, Ikwuazom noted this lack of a physical local presence.
“On the whole the order for the substituted service as granted by the court on February 11, 2025 on Binance who is … registered under the laws of Cayman Islands and resident in Cayman Islands is improper and should be set aside,” he told the court.
Binance has previously claimed that it’s in talks with the FIRS to find an amicable solution to the tax dispute. However, as one local outlet revealed, it angered the agency by downplaying its presence and significance in the country, which led to a breakdown in the negotiations.
The exchange reportedly claimed that, at most, it had only facilitated $140 million in trading volume in the West African nation since it started operations there. For this, it was only willing to pay $7 million in taxes and pledged to pay $5 million first to secure the release of the then-detained executive Tigran Gambaryan.
Local outlet Premium Times reported that Binance even offered to surrender the data of its 100 most active traders to the authorities to reduce its penalties. However, government officials were incensed by its offer, which they said was not made in good faith.
“When you calculate the volume of trade and losses to our economy, we actually should be asking for more… They (Binance) just felt we do not deserve much as a third-world country,” one unnamed official told the outlet.
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