A Nigerian court has adjourned a tax evasion case against Binance to April 30 to allow the country’s tax authority time to respond to a legal request from the exchange, according to a statement by the company’s legal counsel.

Reuters reported that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is seeking $2 billion in back taxes and $79.5 billion in damages for alleged economic losses resulting from Binance’s activities in Nigeria. 

The agency claims Binance has a “significant economic presence” in the country and should, therefore, be subject to corporate income tax, including payments for 2022 and 2023, along with a 10% annual penalty on unpaid amounts.

Jurisdictional dispute over service of documents

The case has been delayed following Binance’s application to annul a prior court order permitting the service of documents by email.

Binance lawyer Chukwuka Ikwuazom argued that the service was invalid because the FIRS did not obtain judicial leave to serve legal papers outside Nigeria. 

Binance is registered in the Cayman Islands and does not maintain a physical presence in the country.

Ikwuazom defended:

“On the whole, the order for the substituted service as granted by the court on February 11, 2025 on Binance, who is registered under the laws of Cayman Islands and resident in Cayman Islands, is improper and should be set aside.”

The court granted the adjournment to enable the tax authority to respond to Binance’s motion formally. At the next hearing, the FIRS is expected to present arguments supporting the validity of the court-sanctioned substituted service.

Broader legal and regulatory context

The proceedings are part of a wider clampdown by Nigerian authorities on crypto-related platforms, which have been blamed for destabilizing the country’s currency markets.

In 2024, two Binance executives were detained as part of a broader investigation into the exchange’s role in facilitating naira-denominated crypto transactions.

Authorities allege that platforms like Binance have undermined official exchange rates and facilitated capital flight through peer-to-peer markets. 

While Binance is not officially licensed to operate in Nigeria, local users continue to use it to access digital assets and stablecoins.

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Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is predicting that President Donald Trump will renege on his threats of tariffs on importers, reversing much of the fear rattling financial markets.

Posting on the social media platform X, Ackman, the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, says that President Trump’s phone has likely been “ringing off the hook” with calls from other countries asking for deals or compromises on tariffs.

Ackman says that since there’s not enough time to have discussions with each leader, the president may announce that the tariffs will be postponed.

“I would therefore not be surprised to wake up Monday with an announcement from the President that he was postponing the implementation of the tariffs to give him time to make deals.

President Trump has gotten the world’s and our trading partners’ attention and elevated the importance of resolving an unfair tariff regime that has harmed American workers and decimated our industrial base over many decades.

This is a critically important issue that needs to be resolved, and we finally have a president committed to getting this done.

The problem, however, can’t be resolved in days, so why wouldn’t a pause make sense to give the president time to properly resolve this critical issue and to allow companies, large and small, the time to prepare for changes in their supply chains?

The risk of not doing so is that the massive increase in uncertainty drives the economy into a recession, potentially a severe one.

One thing is for sure. Monday will be one of the more interesting days in our country’s economic history.”

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed various altcoin-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on March 11. According to Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, the approval odds for these ETFs this year are still relatively high.

Decisions on Grayscale’s filings for Dogecoin (DOGE), XRP, Litecoin (LTC), and Cardano (ADA) ETFs were delayed. The SEC also delayed decisions for XRP ETFs filed by Canary Capital, Bitwise, and 21shares. 

The regulator also postponed decisions on the Solana (SOL) ETFs filed by 21shares, Canary, and VanEck. Canary’s Litecoin filing was the last altcoin-related ETF delay.

Other crypto ETF delays include in-kind creation and redemptions for BlackRock’s IBIT, as well as Fidelity’s FBTC and FETH. 21shares also saw a delay in the proposal to include staking in its Ethereum (ETH) ETF.

Despite the delays, the SEC acknowledged Grayscale’s filing for a Hedera (HBAR) ETF and Bitwise’s DOGE-related filing.

Additionally, on March 11, Franklin Templeton filed an S-1 Form for an XRP ETF, joining a new altcoin exchange-traded product race.

High chances of approval

Seyffart assessed that the multiple delays were expected, as “this is standard procedure.” He added that Paul Atkins has not been confirmed as the new SEC chair, which is also a factor in the delays.

The analyst also highlighted that the final deadlines for an SEC decision on all ETFs are due in October and that the odds of approval are still relatively high.

In February, Seyffart and Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas published their approval odds for Litecoin, Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin ETFs.

LTC leads the odds with a 90% probability of approval this year, with DOGE holding the second-largest percentage at 75%. SOL trails close behind with 70% chances, and XRP with a 65% chance of approval.

The analysts highlighted that these odds were less than 5% before President Donald Trump’s November election, making the new numbers relatively high.

Moreover, the odds for all ETFs listed by Balchunas and Seyffart could go up if regulatory conditions in the US improve even further.

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