Nigeria just submitted a lawsuit against Binance that’s so big it makes SBF's legal troubles look like pocket change.

We're talking $81.5 billion - more than some African countries' entire GDP.

The Nigerian government is basically saying Binance turned their currency into the world's saddest shitcoin due to rampant speculation, and they want to be made whole.

Incredible Claims, Incredible Numbers

They want $79.5 billion for allegedly turning the naira into a speedrun to zero, and another $2 billion for allegedly ducking taxes since 2019.

And because that wasn't enough, they're adding 26.75% interest on those taxes, just to add a little extra financial incentives. 

But why?

Well, the naira has been getting absolutely destroyed lately, down 70% against USD since 2023 alone.

Nigeria is saying Binance is the final boss of their currency problem, because it turns out that when your citizens can easily swap local currency for USDT, your monetary policy might not be as enforceable as you think.

Yup, that’s right. It’s not the immense mismanagement of the economy that’s the problem – it’s that the every day people who suffer from it now have a way out.

Totally fair. 

Real People, Real Problems

Remember those two Binance execs who got detained in February?

One of them, Tigran Gambaryan, spent seven months locked away in a Nigerian facility, and it took the US government flexing on Nigera to finally get him out in October.

They've already had to shut down all naira trading pairs in what amounts to a really messed up hostage negotiation sitauton.

No doubt Binance execs are probably checking flight trackers before any Africa-related meetings given the recent jailings, and the fact that they're now staring down a number bigger than most crypto market caps.

Nigeria isn’t just mad about some missing taxes – they’re watching their whole financial system get routed around faster than a Lightning Network payment.

When your citizens trust a CEX more than your central bank, that's probably not great for business – and worse, it makes your government look utterly incompetent. 

Will They Pay?

In the meantime, to stop this from ever happening again, Nigeria is cooking up some serious crypto regulations.

Q1 2025 is supposed to bring the mother of all crypto tax bills, and they're even planning to hand out official exchange licenses to make sure that everyone plays by the rule… and assumingly keeps the citizens locked in the local currency.

This isn't just about one country being mad at Binance – every developing nation with a wonky currency is watching this case like a hawk, worried that the same thing could happen to their economies. 

If Nigeria actually wins this, expect massive copycat lawsuits from underdeveloped regions whose governments and central banks mismanage the currency at the expense of the population.

The Next Chapter

Binance might need to actually start caring about which countries they're "not operating in."

The days of crypto's wild west approach to emerging markets might be cooked – a $81.5B bill is definitely not nothing.

And somewhere, CZ is probably wishing he'd paid more attention to those Nigerian prince emails.