The government of Nigeria blamed the world's largest crypto exchange for the currency's collapse.

Nigeria has faced numerous currency crises. This is the first time crypto has played a major role. In reality, Nigerians have flocked to cryptocurrencies in recent years to shelter their economies from runaway inflation, which reached nearly 30% in January, and a currency in free fall. According to an index compiled by Chainalysis, a data provider, the country has the second largest crypto adoption rate in the world, after India

Because the government rationed who could exchange the local currency for dollars and at what exchange rate, many sought refuge in digital currencies linked to the US dollar, known as stablecoins. Binance has become the go-to place to check this black market rate, according to currency traders.

Olayemi Cardoso , le chef de la banque centrale du Nigeria , suggested that crypto platforms were being used to manipulate the market. According to him, in the case of Binance style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style”, "serif">, 26 billion dollars passed through its platform in Nigeria over the past year, coming from sources and users that the central bank could not adequately identify.