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Binance, the prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has declared the suspension of services supporting the Nigerian naira on its platform, effective from Tuesday.
In an official notice posted on its website, Binance, previously accused of manipulating the value of the Nigerian currency, announced that commencing this Friday, any remaining naira balances in user accounts would be automatically converted to Tether. Tether is a cryptocurrency stablecoin pegged to the US dollar.
The notice outlined the timeline for these changes, stating that Binance would no longer support NGN deposits after 2024-03-05 14:00 (UTC), and NGN withdrawals would cease after 2024-03-08 06:00 (UTC). Following this, on 2024-03-08 08:00 (UTC), Binance would convert any remaining NGN balances in users’ Spot and Funding wallets into USDT at a ratio of 1 USDT = 1,515.13 NGN.
Last week, the Federal Government of Nigeria demanded nearly $10 billion in compensation from Binance, alleging the manipulation of foreign exchange rates through currency speculation and rate fixing on its platform. Furthermore, reports emerged that two executives of the exchange were arrested during their visit to Nigeria to address issues with the authorities, with their passports confiscated.
Despite the regulatory challenges, Nigeria continues to be one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency markets. A Chainalysis report from September 2023 highlighted a nine percent year-on-year growth in Nigeria’s crypto transaction volume, reaching $56.7 billion between July 2022 and June 2023.
The struggle of the naira against the American dollar has persisted for months, particularly after the harmonization of segments of the currency market in June.
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