A Nigerian court has postponed the tax evasion case of the detained Binance executive to April 19, while the hearing for the cryptocurrency exchange itself is scheduled for April 8. The court also ordered that the executive Tigran Gambaryan be held in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Tigran Gambaryan Accused of […]
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Crypto exchange Binance, currently facing criminal charges in Nigeria, notably lacked legal representation at its April 4 court hearing in the African nation.
Instead, the hearing was only attended by its compliance chief, Tigran Gambaryan, who the Nigerian government has detained since the end of February.
However, despite expectations for the proceedings to advance, the Nigerian High Court postponed the case until April 19.
As of press time, Binance has yet to respond to CryptoSlate’s request for comment.
Last week, CryptoSlate reported that the authorities charged Binance and its executives with failing to register with relevant local agencies and avoiding tax responsibilities.
Additionally, the Nigerian government accused Binance of facilitating users who evade tax payments.
However, the government somehow failed to serve the case charges to the defendants despite having Gambaryan within their custody since February.
Chukwuka Ikwuazo, legal counsel for Gambaryan, argued that the arraignment should not proceed due to this lapse.
In the past two months, Binance has faced ongoing disputes with the Nigerian government regarding its alleged involvement in worsening the country’s foreign exchange issues.
Despite Binance’s consistent denial of any wrongdoing, the Nigerian authorities, including the Federal Inland Revenue Services and Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, have filed criminal complaints against it and its executives—Nadeem Anjarwalla and Gambaryan.
Anjarwalla, a UK citizen, evaded custody in March. He is currently being tried in absentia and the government has enlisted the help of Interpol to aid in his extradition.
Conversely, Binance has called for the release of Gambaryan, emphasizing that he does not make pivotal decisions within the company.
Notably, Gambaryan has also initiated legal actions against the Nigerian authorities, citing a violation of his fundamental human rights.
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New York-based Nasdaq Stock Exchange has decided to delay the launch of its crypto custody service due to the uncertain regulatory environment in the U.S.
Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, during the company’s quarterly earnings call on Jul. 19, 2023, said:
“Considering the shifting business and regulatory environment in the U.S., we’ve made the decision to halt our launch of the U.S. digital assets custodian business.”
According to Friedman, the exchange remains committed to the digital assets industry but will not pursue a relevant operational license until there is more clarity. She added that Nasdaq will continue developing solutions for the industry in the meantime.
Friedman also clarified that the decision to delay the launch of the custody service is unrelated to the ongoing process for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, which will be supported by the exchange.
Friedman said:
“We remain committed to supporting the evolution of the digital asset ecosystem in a variety of ways, among them through our ongoing engagement with regulators, the delivery of comprehensive technology solutions across the trade lifecycle and through our partnerships with potential ETF issuers to support tradable exchange listed products.”
Nasdaq is acting as BlackRock’s partner for the latter’s spot Bitcoin ETF.
The exchange first announced plans for a digital assets custody business in Nov. 2022, and the service was set to launch by the end of the second quarter before the decision in March 2023 to delay the launch.
However, the ensuing weeks since then have seen the U.S. regulatory landscape deteriorate and become more complex to navigate as the SEC ramped up enforcement against the crypto industry with legal complaints against Coinbase and Binance.US.
The SEC has adopted a hard stance that most cryptocurrencies are securities and is using this as a key prong in its enforcement strategy. However, the issue has yet to be determined with finality by lawmakers which has become the central pain point in many of the legal cases with crypto firms.
Many cryptocurrency firms have decided to focus on growth outside the U.S. until lawmakers and regulators can establish more certainty for the industry.
Meanwhile, there is some optimism for the industry in the U.S., as Congress is set to vote on crypt-related legislation this week. The outcome could be a crucial step in clarifying the regulatory landscape for the industry.
The post Nasdaq postpones crypto custody plans, citing ‘shifting business and regulatory environment’ appeared first on CryptoSlate.