Nigeria Receives Nearly $100,000 From Unlicensed Crypto Firms

Nigeria’s government has received a sum of nearly $100,000 from two cryptocurrency firms accused of operating without a banking license and conducting unlicensed conversions of tether (USDT) to naira and vice versa. The firms, Paparaxy Global Ventures Limited and Lemskin Technologies Limited, recently entered a plea bargain agreement with the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The EFCC lawyer, Ogechi Ujam, requested that the court accept the deal, which was subsequently adjourned to October 22 by Nigerian High Court Judge James Omotosho. This case came to light shortly after the country’s securities regulator granted its first digital asset exchange licenses to two local firms, Busha and Quidax. Nigerian authorities have also started freezing bank accounts associated with local cryptocurrency traders and have invoked anti-money laundering and exchange control laws to crack down on illegal cryptocurrency platforms. In the case against Paparaxy and Lemskin, the EFCC argued that the firms were unauthorized to participate in the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market and accused them of violating the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.