After a series of diplomatic conversations, the United States government has offered a deal that will help Nigeria further track cryptocurrency activities. This is in exchange for the release of the American, Tigran Gambaryan, the Binance employee who Nigeria had held in detention for the last 8 months.

The requests from U.S. officials, as well as, added pressure from the US president for this deed had begun since June with Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director’s visit to Nigeria. The US had said that it could provide more help in the investigation of cryptocurrency companies if Nigeria dropped the charges against Mr. Gambaryan.

This was rounded off with a promise of improved partnership, particularly in areas of cybercrime investigations from the Western nation to Africa’s giant.

On Wednesdays, the US disclosed that it is establishing a bilateral group to help Nigeria improve cybercrime investigations and prosecution capabilities.

More so, Nigeria has long shown interest in partnering with the United States on artificial intelligence disregarding limiting factors from US export controls, bans and regulations that are often not in favour of Nigeria.

At a joint U.S.-Nigerian meeting in Washington in May, officials had discussed an expansion in digital access across Africa as well as cooperation on artificial intelligence under a Biden administration. Nigeria is likely to receive funding for the A.I. conference in Lagos this year from the United States as part of this initiative.

There is no guarantee that Nigeria will get access to AI technology from the US, and the status of funding is still unknown after the release of Gambaryan.

Binance Tax Evasion in Nigeria

For a quick background of the new Finance Act in Nigeria, Section 8 of the Value Added Tax Act declares a penal standard for non-compliance to registration with FIRS.

Others include an amendment to section 49(1) of the Personal Income Tax Act for non-compliance with the FIRS tracking requirements.

The substituted Section 28 of the Value Added Tax Act declares incorporeal properties including trademarks, rights, patents, and royalties subject to VAT.

The totality of the new Finance Act tenses the tax evasion charges against Binance.

The charges of money laundering may have been dismissed but Nigeria still holds the tax evasion charge in court as it attributes the Naira setbacks to Binance and other crypto companies.

The government had cracked down on these platforms for the same reasons while heeding the advice of the National Security Adviser that cryptocurrency trading presented risks to national security. The court declared that cryptocurrency platforms are the new de facto method for trading the Nigerian naira following the dire shortage in the dollar.

Binance’s offences against the tax authorities in Nigeria could range from misinterpreting financial activities, falsifying income declarations and or failure to render tax returns to the Relevant Tax Authority.

While US officials express disappointment in Nigeria for the arrest of Gambaryan, they have admitted to sharing the concerns of the government as Binance has had a similar fallout with the US. In April, a US court found Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance guilty of accessorizing money laundering through the platform.