Binance Halts Services Tied to Nigerian Naira Amid Regulatory Pressure

By: Eva Baxter

Following heightened scrutiny by the Nigerian government, cryptocurrency exchange his decision to halt services connected to the Nigerian local fiat currency, the Naira (NGN). The exchange will phase out these services according to a recent statement. Various NGN-related services will be affected i.e., deposits, withdrawals, conversions, spot trading, P2P, Auto-invest, and Binance Pay.

NGN deposits were stopped immediately. Users have until Mar. 8 to withdraw their NGN assets. After the deadline, the remaining NGN balance will be auto-converted to USDT at a fixed rate of 1 USDT for $1,515.13, which represents the average closing price over the past week.

Alongside this, all NGN spot trading pairs will be delisted and Binance will automatically close all open trading positions by Mar. 7. Neither an official reason has been provided for this decision, nor have Binance representatives responded to requests for additional comments.

It's worth noting that this decision comes amid the growing tension between Binance and the Nigerian authorities. Accusations claim Binance has worsened Nigeria's foreign exchange issues and undermined the role of the Central Bank. In response to this accusation, the government has decided to crack down on Binance's pursuits including a blockade on its website. Moreover, two Binance staff members were reportedly detained with their passports confiscated.