Binance will discontinue its naira (NGN) services in response to heightened regulatory scrutiny in Nigeria, it said in a blog post today. The cryptocurrency exchange will begin delisting any existing NGN spot trading pairs by Thursday, March 7. It advised users to withdraw, trade, or convert their NGN assets into crypto before the service discontinuation. Any remaining NGN balances in users' spot and funding wallets will be converted to USDT on Friday, March 8, it noted.
By Wednesday, March 6, Binance will also delist NGN services on its auto-invest tool and remove the currency from the list of supported payment options on Binance Pay.
This development follows recent regulatory actions by the Nigerian government, which imposed restrictions on both local and foreign cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance. As a result, users have encountered accessibility challenges on the Binance website.
Last week, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the country's apex bank, said Nigeria was losing out on taxes from unregistered crypto exchanges and accused Binance of facilitating "illicit flows from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify" to the tune of $26 billion.
What followed was the reported detention of two Binance officials after they were invited to Nigeria to discuss the regulatory restrictions. According to Bloomberg, the officials were held because Binance was operating illegally in Nigeria. The detained officials may allegedly face charges related to currency manipulation, tax evasion, and illegal operations, although formal charges have not yet been filed.
Several reports indicate that the Nigerian government, alleging Binance's involvement in manipulating foreign exchange rates through currency speculation and rate fixing, intensified its scrutiny of the platform by requesting nearly $10 billion in compensation. However, both Nigeria and Binance have refuted these claims regarding the fine.
The ongoing legal dispute between the world's largest crypto platform and Africa's top crypto market is still unresolved. Recently, Nigeria's parliament exacerbated the situation by threatening to issue a warrant of arrest for the company’s executives. Furthermore, they summoned Binance CEO Richard Teng to provide explanations regarding investigations into alleged involvement in money laundering and terror financing, as reported by local sources.
By Tage Kene-Okafor, TechCrunch
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