Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced on its app that it would be disabling all its services involving the Nigerian Naira (NGN) starting from March 8. This decision comes amidst regulatory challenges faced by the company in Nigeria, where it has been at the center of a crypto crackdown.
According to the statement released by Binance, the exchange will cease Naira deposits after March 5, and withdrawals will be halted on March 8. Any remaining NGN balances in users’ Binance accounts will be automatically converted to USDT (Tether), a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. Additionally, Binance will delist all existing NGN spot trading pairs on March 7, and the Naira will no longer be supported as a payment option on Binance Pay, the exchange’s payment solution.
The move by Binance comes in response to the recent crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges in Nigeria. Last week, two executives of the company were arrested by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) upon their arrival in the country, following a ban on Binance’s website. Nigerian authorities have accused Binance of facilitating “illegal transactions” and have reportedly imposed a hefty $10 billion fine on the company, as per a statement from a presidential aide. However, Binance has denied any knowledge of such a fine.
This is not the first time Binance has faced regulatory hurdles in Nigeria. Two weeks ago, the exchange imposed limits on peer-to-peer transactions involving the USDT/NGN pair. This action followed earlier restrictions, where Binance disabled the ‘sell’ feature and limited Nigerian users’ buy option to a fixed price of ₦1802.
The struggles encountered by Binance come after a shift in regulatory stance by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) towards cryptocurrency companies. While initially seen as positive for the digital currency space, recent regulatory actions have raised doubts about the future of crypto assets in Nigeria.
