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- Nigerians can no longer trade crypto for naira on Binance.
- The crypto exchange has come under scrutiny from multiple Nigerian authorities in last month.
Binance has removed every avenue for trading Nigeria’s currency, the naira, for other cryptocurrencies on its platform, according to a blog post by the exchange on Tuesday.
Nigerians can no longer user Binance as an onramp to deposit their naira on the exchange or to buy other crypto, including Tether’s USDT stablecoin.
In addition, investors cannot exchange USDT for naira and withdraw the currency to their local bank accounts.
Binance’s delisting of the naira also covers its peer-to-peer trading platform, which was popular among Nigeria’s buoyant crypto population.
Friday deadline
Users have until Friday to convert their naira balances on the exchange to other stablecoins such as Tether’s USDT. Those who fail to do so will have their balances automatically converted to USDT once the deadline passes, Binance said in its blog.
Binance did not state any reason for delisting the naira from its platform.
Yet the move comes after a tumultuous two weeks for the exchange in Nigeria where government officials blamed Binance for facilitating currency speculation and foreign exchange manipulation.
Nigeria’s top intelligence agency detained at least two Binance officials last week amid an interagency investigation into the exchange.
Officials close to the investigation previously told DL News the government was investigating allegations of illicit flows through Binance.
The country’s telecoms regulator has also blocked access to Binance with Nigerians having to rely on VPN services to move their funds out of the exchange.
Looking for alternatives
With today’s decision, Binance is no longer a so-called crypto bank for Nigerians that allowed them to easily trade crypto using their local currency.
Instead, Nigeria’s savvy crypto population which transacted $60 billion in stablecoin trades between 2021 and 2023 will now have to look for crypto trading platform alternatives.
Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. To share tips or information about stories, please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.