Nigeria’s high voltage searchlight on Binance has forced the company to exit some of its core operations in the nation: “Binance will discontinue all Nigerian Naira (NGN) services as per the timeline below. Users are encouraged to withdraw NGN, trade their NGN assets or convert NGN into crypto prior to 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”.
While I support Nigeria on its rights to enforce its AML/KYC regulations, I also make it clear that Binance is not the reason our Naira is in trouble. Also, I hope Binance follows Nigeria’s AML/KYC laws. Of course, the executives should be treated based on the rule books, with no rights under local and international laws denied.
We need to focus on more important things which remain constant electricity, security of lives and properties, rule of law and the catalytic enablers which make economies work. If we continue to improve on those, Nigerian Naira will rise, Binance or no Binance.
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Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has recently faced a series of regulatory challenges in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crypto market. The exchange has been accused of contributing to the devaluation of the naira, Nigeria’s currency, by offering peer-to-peer (P2P) trading services that bypass the official exchange rate.
The Nigerian government has also restricted access to Binance’s website and arrested two of its executives in the country. We will explore the implication of Binance shutting P2P to crypto in Nigeria, and what it means for the future of crypto adoption in the country.
Nigeria’s high voltage searchlight on Binance has forced the company to exit some of its core operations in the nation: “Binance will discontinue all Nigerian Naira (NGN) services … Users are encouraged to withdraw NGN, trade their NGN assets or convert NGN into crypto prior to… pic.twitter.com/VcyAzHoydi
— Ndubuisi Ekekwe (@ndekekwe) March 5, 2024
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Maybe the CBN will publish a report detailing the benefits or lack thereof of sending Binance away, probably two months from now. We await.