Binance to suspend all Naira related services in Nigeria from March 8

Binance, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, has revealed that it will halt all services related to Nigeria’s currency, the Naira, starting from March 8.

The decision comes as Binance faces regulatory issues in Nigeria and follows a crackdown on its operations in the country.

In an announcement made through its mobile application, Binance stated that it will no longer accept Naira deposits after March 5.

Additionally, customers will not be able to withdraw funds in Naira after March 8. To address the situation, Binance will automatically convert all remaining Naira balances in user accounts into USDT, a stablecoin that mirrors the value of the US dollar.

Furthermore, Binance will delist all existing Naira spot trading pairs on March 7. The company’s payment solution service, Binance Pay, will also exclude Naira as an accepted payment method.

This development comes after Binance encountered trouble in Nigeria last week when two of its executives were detained by the National Security Adviser (NSA) upon their arrival in the country.

The authorities had previously banned access to Binance’s website. Binance’s decision to cease Naira services reflects the challenges it faces in Nigeria’s cryptocurrency market.

The exchange’s move could impact its user base in the country and may prompt Nigerian traders to seek alternative platforms for their cryptocurrency transactions.

The Nigerian authorities have accused Binance of profiting from illicit transactions and allegedly levied a substantial $10 billion fine on the platform, a charge which a presidential spokesperson reported. Nevertheless, Binance has rebuffed any allegations regarding its awareness of this supposed fine.

In similar developments about two weeks ago, Binance had imposed restrictions on peer-to-peer transactions of the USDT/NGN pair. This marked the second time within half a year that the company imposed trading restrictions; it had previously disabled the ‘sell’ feature and restricted the ‘buy’ option for Nigerian users to a price of N1,802.

These challenges faced by Binance come in the wake of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s change of stance on cryptocurrency companies last year. Initially, this shift was considered a positive step for digital currency assets. However, the recent regulatory actions appear to cast doubt on this previously optimistic perspective.