Nigerian government crackdown prompts Binance to leave
Effective March 8, Binance is set to cease all transactions and trading activities involving Nigeria’s local currency, aligning with a broader nationwide effort to curb cryptocurrency exchanges.
“Fellow Binancians, Binance will discontinue all Nigerian Naira services as per the timeline below. Users are encouraged to withdraw NGN, trade their NGN assets, or convert NGN into crypto before the discontinuation of these NGN services. From 2024-03-08 08:00 (UTC), any remaining NGN balances in users’ Binance accounts will be automatically converted to USDT based on the conversion rate below. Binance will not support deposits of NGN after 2024-03-05 14:00 (UTC),” Binance said in a statement to users.
Withdrawal support for the local currency will conclude after Friday, and any remaining balances denominated in Nigerian Naira will be automatically converted into Tether—a stablecoin with its value pegged to the U.S. dollar. As part of the move, Binance will completely stop supporting NGN in spot trading, P2P, Auto Invest, and Binance Pay.
In a recent development, two senior Binance executives were arrested by Nigerian authorities on undisclosed charges as part of the ongoing regulatory measures.
As of the parliamentary committee meeting on Monday, the executives remain in custody, as confirmed by their local legal representative.
At the beginning of March, news outlets circulated reports claiming that Nigerian authorities had purportedly sought $10 billion in restitution from Binance over allegations of manipulating the naira exchange rate. However, both the exchange itself and Bayo Onanuga, an adviser to the President of Nigeria, refuted these claims afterward.
Furthermore, the Nigerian House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes has issued a demand for Binance CEO Richard Teng to appear before the committee by March 4 to provide testimony regarding alleged involvement in terrorist financing and money laundering.
