Author: Wenser (@wenser2010) Odaily Planet Daily
On October 24, Binance CEO Richard Teng wrote: “We are deeply relieved and grateful that Tigran Gambaryan was finally released after being detained in Nigeria for nearly eight months. Tigran Gambaryan has shown tremendous strength during this difficult period. We commend his tenacity in such severe adversity and are very grateful to all those who have devoted countless hours to support Tigran’s release.”
This also officially marks the end of the previous "Binance executives were detained in Nigeria" incident. Fortunately, it is a story with a happy ending.
In this incident, we may also be able to get a glimpse of the "coexistence" between the crypto industry and government regulatory forces. Odaily Planet Daily will briefly review this incident in this article for readers' reference.
Decoding Tigran Gambaryan: Former IRS Agent, Current Crypto Exchange Executive
In September 2021, Tigran Gambaryan officially joined Binance. It is understood that during his tenure at the IRS (Internal Revenue Service), he led several multi-billion dollar cyber investigations, including investigations into the Silk Road website and the Mt. Gox hacking incident.
At that time, his position was Binance's vice president of global intelligence and investigations. At the same time, Binance said that another former IRS agent, Matthew Price, would serve as senior director of investigations. Binance said it would focus on compliance and work with global regulators. CZ also said in a statement at the time: "The Binance investigation team now includes the world's top investigators. This level of experience will make Binance a leader in compliance and enhance trust in Binance and the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem."
As an experienced special agent, Gambaryan's decade working in the IRS Criminal Investigation Cyber Crime Unit has laid a solid foundation for his involvement in encryption compliance-related business, including investigating multiple cases involving national security, terrorist financing, identity theft, distribution of child pornography, tax evasion, and Bank Secrecy Act violations.
After taking office, Gambaryan's work performance also proved this point.
In May 2022, perhaps under its impetus, Binance announced that Jarek Jakubcek, a well-known expert in the global cybercrime field and former cryptocurrency expert of the dark web team of the Europol Cybercrime Center (EC3), joined Binance as Director of Intelligence and Investigation for Asia Pacific.
In June 2022, Gambaryan said that the Indian community has shown an increased interest in the content of the Binance Blockchain Academy. Binance hopes to encourage wise and thoughtful participation in the Indian digital asset ecosystem through proper education, and has launched a series of educational programs centered on the Indian market. India can become a global center for blockchain, cryptocurrency, and Web3 talent, and the way to achieve this goal should include creating an environment for startups to nurture and grow to meet the needs of Indian customers.
In August 2022, Binance's compliance team stated that Binance vigorously implemented the KYC policy, and although it caused great losses in a short period of time, the execution was still very firm. According to the official response, it lost 90% of its customers and lost billions of dollars in revenue.
In September 2022, Binance announced the launch of the industry's first global project, the "Global Law Enforcement Training Program", which aims to help law enforcement agencies and prosecutors identify financial and cyber crimes and assist in prosecuting malicious actors. The training program is led by leaders of the Binance investigation team, including Gambaryan.
At that time, Binance and Nigeria were also in a "honeymoon period", and the two sides even planned to establish a digital economic zone that would help entrepreneurs in the country fast-track blockchain technology. According to a statement from the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority, the partnership aims to establish a digital center "similar to the Dubai Virtual Free Zone." After all, at that time, the number of crypto holders in Nigeria exceeded 22 million, making it Africa's well-deserved "largest crypto market."
But soon, as time entered 2023, the relationship between the two sides took a sharp turn for the worse, which also laid the groundwork for this year's "Binance executives were detained in Nigeria" incident.
Nigeria vs. Binance: When crypto institutions come into direct contact with state power
In July 2023, the Nigerian securities regulator stated in a notice that all Binance activities were not registered with the unit and were not regulated by it, so all Binance's crypto-related activities were illegal. The notice also ordered all crypto platform providers to stop soliciting Nigerian citizens.
In February 2024, this year, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, said that in 2023, $26 billion worth of cryptocurrency funds whose sources could not be "adequately" identified flowed through Binance Nigeria. The finding came as Nigeria faces a foreign exchange crisis and seeks to limit capital outflows, with the local currency, the naira, hitting a record low on Wednesday.
On February 26, Binance’s two senior executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, were detained by Nigerian officials on charges of money laundering and financing terrorism. (The dramatic thing is that the latter later successfully escaped from prison)
In March, according to media reports, the Nigerian government intends to claim at least $10 billion from Binance because the Nigerian government believes that Binance has made profits through "illegal transactions" and damaged national interests. It is reported that Binance is facing investigations in Nigeria, and the exchange has removed the Nigerian currency Naira from its peer-to-peer services. In addition, according to local news media reports, a Nigerian court ordered Binance to provide the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with comprehensive information on all people in the country who trade on its platform. It was previously reported that Nigeria asked Binance to hand over information on the country's top 100 users and all transaction history for the past 6 months.
Judging from this move, it is hard not to suspect that Nigeria’s detention of Binance executives may be motivated by the idea of “collecting protection fees” or “exfiltrating gold coins”.
Of course, a series of subsequent measures by the Nigerian authorities soon brought about a new round of doubts - the repeatedly postponed trial time and the turbulent local situation:
At the end of March, the Nigerian government accused Binance of money laundering of $35 million and announced that a hearing on the "detention of Binance executives case" would be held on April 4;
In early April, according to Bloomberg, Nigeria postponed the trial of Binance executives' lawsuit to April 19;
On April 22, Judge Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria, ruled to postpone the tax evasion hearing of Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan to May 17.
In May, Judge Emeka Nwite set June 14 as the possible arraignment date for Binance and Gambaryan.
Although Binance stated in April: "Tigran Gambaryan is a strict law enforcement professional and is not part of Binance management. Binance urges Binance to not hold Tigran Gambaryan, who has no decision-making power in the company, accountable during discussions with Nigerian government officials," Nigeria is still hot on the trail. In May, the Nigerian Ministry of Information claimed that it planned to investigate the allegation of $150 million in bribes claimed by Binance CEO.
Things took a turn for the better in June.
On the one hand, after the "Binance executives were detained", Uwakwe, head of the relevant community working group in the Nigerian blockchain field, said that investors are worried about the potential impact of investing in local Web3 companies that may have a similar fate to Binance. He pointed out that the parties that have already invested are gradually withdrawing their funds.
On the other hand, the tax charges brought by the Nigerian Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) against Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla have been dropped. The relevant executives are still in prison and the trial will be held on June 20. It is worth noting that before this incident, Tigran Gambaryan was suspected of being infected with malaria and was in serious condition.
In addition, as a former US government employee, Tigran Gambaryan's detention has also attracted the attention of the United States.
Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett reported that pro-cryptocurrency U.S. Congressman French Hill and his colleague Chrissy Houlahan visited Tigran Gambaryan, a detained Binance executive in Nigeria, who has been suffering from malaria and pneumonia during the past three months of detention. Hill said Gambaryan was "wrongly detained by the Nigerian government." The two congressmen described the difficult conditions Gambaryan was in and asked the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria to lobby for Gambaryan's release on humanitarian grounds.
Subsequently, there were reports that French Hill, vice chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, was also taking the lead in pushing the Nigerian government to release detained Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan.
Despite this, Nigeria did not release Gambaryan directly, and postponed the money laundering trial of Binance to July 5 and October, and even postponed the bail hearing of Binance executives to October 9.
In September, Tigran Gambaryan pleaded with a Nigerian judge to allow him to undergo back surgery due to his poor health, but his request for medical bail was subsequently rejected.
As recently as October, a group of 18 state attorneys general urged President Biden to help secure the release of Tigran Gambaryan, a Binance executive who has been detained in Nigeria since February 2024. The attorneys general have asked Biden to designate Gambaryan as a hostage under the Robert Levinson Hostage Rescue and Hostage Accountability Act. According to a joint letter sent on October 18, the group expressed concern about Gambaryan’s deteriorating health and the illegal nature of his detention. “His continued detention without cause not only violates his rights, but also poses a serious threat to his health and well-being… We have a responsibility to advocate for American citizens overseas, and we urge the federal government to exert the necessary diplomatic pressure to ensure his release,” Attorney General Formella wrote in the letter.
Finally, after much mediation, on October 23, the Nigerian government dropped all charges against Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan, who had been facing trial in a local detention center since April. A lawyer representing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) announced the withdrawal of charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday morning local time.
Conclusion: Binance’s global expansion will not stop, and crypto construction will continue
As Binance CEO Richard Teng said after Gambaryan’s release: “Binance remains committed to working with global regulators to ensure compliance and transparency in the evolving digital asset space. We hope to put this incident behind us and continue to work hard to create a brighter future for the global blockchain industry. Nigeria has a young, tech-savvy population with a strong interest in digital finance and is fully capable of using blockchain technology to address economic and social challenges. We look forward to playing a constructive role in this effort.”
On the long road of encryption construction, there are always some people who make various efforts to promote the mainstreaming of cryptocurrency. Sometimes, when faced with a complex external environment, they have to choose to "move forward with heavy burdens." However, the development of cryptocurrency and digital assets will not stop because of this. Instead, it will become more and more courageous and move faster and faster.
Gambaryan is just a microcosm and a representative of the cryptocurrency industry’s determination to build the industry. In the future, more crypto builders will continue to move forward and let the glory of decentralized networks shine on more lands and countries.
