Binance to exit Nigerian market, ends Naira transactions, others March 8

The ongoing face-off between global crypto trading platform, Binance and the Federal Government has taken a fresh twist following the platform’s resolve to stop all transactions and trading in Nigeria’s currency from March 8.

In a statement posted on its website on Tuesday, Binance also announced that it would stop supporting withdrawals after Friday and any remaining balances in the Nigerian currency would be automatically converted into Tether – a stablecoin whose value is pegged to the United States dollar.

The crypto exchange added that it would cease support for naira deposits after 14:00 UTC today (Tuesday)

Binance said the conversion rate for automatic conversions would be $ 1 per N1, 515.13.

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“All spot trading pairs against the naira will be delisted on March 7 at 3:00 a.m. UTC. Open spot orders for these pairs will be automatically closed.

“Binance Convert, Binance P2P, the exchange’s Auto Invest feature, and Binance Pay will also cease support for the naira at various dates and times,” the statement added.

It would be recalled that Binance has been on the federal government’s watchlist in recent weeks for alleged money laundering, illegal operations, financial terrorism, and tax evasion, amongst others.

Last week, Nigerian authorities detained two Binance senior executives on undisclosed charges as part of the crackdown.

By: Babajide Okeowo

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