Binance has revealed plans to exit the Nigerian market, discontinuing all services involving the local fiat currency, the Nigerian naira (NGN).
In a Tuesday announcement , the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange said it would suspend NGN withdrawals after March 8.
Any remaining NGN balances in users’ Binance accounts will be automatically converted to the Tether stablecoin.
To ensure a smooth transition, Binance has encouraged its Nigerian users to withdraw their NGN, trade their NGN assets, or convert them into cryptocurrencies before the discontinuation of NGN services.
The conversion rate for NGN to Tether will be calculated based on the average closing price of the USDT/NGN trading pair on Binance Spot over the last seven days.
Effective immediately, Binance has also suspended NGN deposits, rendering such transactions unsupported after 2:00 pm UTC on March 5.
Furthermore, all trading pairs involving NGN will be removed from the Binance platform on March 7.
Binance Pay, the exchange’s payment service, will also eliminate NGN from its list of supported payment options on March 6.
The decision to exit the Nigerian market comes as Binance faces increased regulatory scrutiny within the country.
The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria recently raised concerns about illicit transactions and suspicious fund flows at crypto exchanges in Nigeria, including Binance.
Additionally, the country’s National Security Adviser reportedly confiscated the passports of two Binance executives, who are citizens of the United States and the United Kingdom, in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
The intensifying suspicions about Binance’s alleged illicit activities in Nigeria have prompted the Nigerian House of
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