Binance Closes M-PESA Deposit and Funding Option Following the Nigerian Crypto Ban

Binance has closed down the M-PESA funding option for Kenyan users following a directive from its service providers.

The service suspension follows a recent directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) requiring all financial institutions and deposit-taking firms from dealing with cryptocurrency exchanges.

In a statement, Binance said: “We have temporarily closed our M-Pesa deposit options due to certain directives from our service provider.”

Binance’s mobile money service provider has been Flutterwave, one of the main payment gateway companies that has ceased offering its services to crypto exchanges in Nigeria.

The new directive thus likely means that Flutterwave will not be offering its services to crypto exchanges, not just in Nigeria, but across other jurisdictions, including Kenya.

The M-PESA mobile money suspension now means users now only have the option of purchasing crypto on Binance using these two methods:

• Visa / MasterCard
• P2P

This move shows the huge impact that the CBN directive is having across the crypto space in Africa even beyond Nigeria.