1 month ago
The Nigerian authorities has reportedly frozen 4 crypto wallets holding implicit $37 cardinal successful Tether’s USDT stablecoin, section media outlet Premium Times reported.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) sought the freeze, alleging the funds were progressive successful wealth laundering and coercion financing. Abuja Federal High Court Judge Emeka Nwite approved this petition connected Aug. 9.
The EFCC’s exertion named 4 wallets, with 1 holding $37 cardinal USDT and others containing smaller amounts—ranging from 90 to 967 and 443,512 USDT. The details of the wallets and their balances are arsenic follows:
- TGVCWYLdeCyjmSpojd4n7hqfJp2ucwuGAx 960 USDT
- bclqd6803rg24sgh4pjaprvh47apvgmleps9zagdt
- TB37WWozkkenGVYWD7Do2N5WT2CedqDktJ
- TUpHuDkiCCmwaTZBHZvQdwWzGNm5t8J2b9
In his ruling, Judge Nwite stated:
“That an bid of this honourable tribunal is hereby made freezing the wallet addresses/accounts stated successful the docket below, which wallets are owned by individuals presently being investigated for offences of wealth laundering and coercion financing, pending the decision of the investigation.”
While the tribunal did not uncover the wallet owners’ identities, reports person suggested that they mightiness beryllium connected to the caller #EndBadGovernance protestation successful the African country.
The protests from Aug. 1 to 10 were triggered by wide dissatisfaction with Nigeria’s economical and governance issues.
Wallets information
CryptoSlate’s investigation of the wallets utilizing blockchain information from Arkham Intelligence showed that the wallets belonged to the blistery wallets of immoderate exchanges.
For context, the TGVCWY wallet contained lone $16 and was past progressive connected Aug. 3. Before Aug. 3, the address’s highest equilibrium was $3,000, recorded successful August 2023. Since then, it has had important interactions with centralized exchanges similar Binance, KuCoin, and OKX.
Additionally, Arkham’s information indicated that the wallets “TB37WW” and “TUpHuD” were associated with the blistery wallets of the MEXC and KuCoin exchanges. The exchanges person yet to respond to CryptoSlate’s petition for comment.
Furthermore, Arkham provided nary information connected the code “bclqd6803,” suggesting it whitethorn not exist.
The station Nigeria’s $37 cardinal USDT frost connected to MEXC and KuCoin blistery wallets appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.
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