Binance Holdings Limited is seeking an out-of-court settlement in its alleged tax evasion case. The company, through its lead counsel Sunday Agaji, told Justice Emeka Nwite in the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, that it is now actively pursuing an amicable settlement with the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) over four counts of alleged tax evasion.
Moses Ideho, deputy director in the NRS legal department and lead prosecutor, confirmed the overture had come earlier that same morning.
“My lord, parties are actually exploring a settlement. That is essentially where we are,” Agaji said, prompting the judge to adjourn proceedings until May 12 for a full progress report.
The development feels like a genuine pivot after months of courtroom tension. Binance was re-arraigned as the lone defendant on July 12, 2024, once its executives, American citizen Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, had been discharged from the case.
Anjarwalla had slipped out of custody, while Gambaryan’s release followed intense diplomatic engagement between Abuja and Washington. A fourth prosecution witness had already taken the stand at the previous sitting, yet the entire trial now sits on pause while both sides test whether compromise beats confrontation.
Apart from the criminal charges, the NRS is pressing a separate civil claim before Justice Mohammed Umar, seeking roughly $79.5 billion for alleged economic damage caused by Binance’s activities in Nigeria, plus about $2 billion in unpaid taxes for 2022 and 2023, penalties and interest included.
Court papers filed as far back as February 2025 lay out the government’s core argument: Binance had built a “significant economic presence” in the country without ever registering locally, dodging corporate income tax, value-added tax, and filing requirements, while its peer-to-peer trading allegedly helped drive the naira’s slide by feeding black-market dollar demand.
These claims take us straight back to a stormy period in Nigeria’s handling of digital assets. The 2023–early 2024 crackdown on crypto platforms was born of deep official worries over currency manipulation and money laundering, allegations Binance has always rejected outright.
A parallel EFCC case accusing the exchange of laundering $35.4 million is still alive before the same judge. Yet this sudden willingness to talk settlement arrives at a telling time, a few months after the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025 comes into force on January 1.
The new law has redrawn the map for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in ways that feel both overdue and decisive. Profits from digital asset deals now face up to a 25 per cent tax as chargeable gains for individuals, more than double the old capital gains rate, while platforms themselves will pay 30 per cent corporate tax on their earnings, mostly from fees.
Every VASP must now secure a Tax Identification Number (TIN), register with the NRS, and file detailed monthly returns that capture transaction volumes, user identities linked to National Identity Numbers (NINs) and TINs, plus any red-flag activity.
The penalties for slipping up are deliberately tough: ₦10 million for the first month of default, ₦1 million for each month after, and the real threat of losing an SEC licence.
What Binance’s possible out-of-court settlement means for Nigeria
For a nation that still leads Africa in crypto adoption, fuelled by young innovators, diaspora remittances and the simple need to hedge against inflation, these rules mark a shift from frontier territory to something closer to regulated maturity.
No longer the unregulated Wild West of P2P trading, Nigeria is folding digital assets into the formal economy. If Binance’s move signals that even the biggest global players are choosing compliance over exit, it could open the door to fresh capital inflows and much-needed tax revenue at a time when fiscal discipline tops the national agenda.
The broader ripples could be significant. A clean settlement would almost certainly nudge other virtual asset platforms to formalise their operations, shrinking the shadow economy that has drained foreign reserves for years.
It might also restore investor confidence, drawing fintech talent and blockchain startups keen to build products that actually meet local needs; think stablecoin-powered remittances or DeFi tools designed for everyday Nigerians.
Economists have argued for some time that taxing crypto flows properly could help steady the naira by routing legitimate dollar inflows through supervised channels instead of offshore wallets.
Still, sceptics worry that overly aggressive enforcement could choke innovation, especially if the tax authority’s capacity lags behind its ambition. Millions of small traders and informal P2P users, who turned to crypto during banking restrictions, may struggle with the new compliance burden and simply drift back underground.
And while the $79.5 billion civil claim reflects genuine government frustration over past currency pressures, some see it as more punitive than proportionate, a stance that risks scaring off future foreign investment.
As the May 12 deadline approaches, Abuja’s courtroom corridors will be watched closely. A successful settlement would do more than resolve Binance’s headaches; it could become the template for how Africa’s biggest economy balances cutting-edge innovation with sensible oversight in the digital age.
For Nigeria’s thriving crypto sector, already woven into daily finance, this feels less like another legal skirmish and more like a quiet but important recalibration.
