Binance Holdings Ltd, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchange companies in the world has announced the plans to disable all its naira services from March 8 in Nigeria
This development came amid the federal government’s effort to regulate the activities and operations of the company.
Binance disclosed this in a statement on its app as reported by TechCabal on Tuesday.
Last week, two executives of the company were intercepted and arrested on arriving in the country by the operatives of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) following the ban on the operation of their website. One of the grounds for their arrest is that Binance operates illegally in Nigeria.
The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Olayemi Cardoso had said more than $26 billion was funnelled through the cryptocurrency platform, Binance in one year.
Binance which is at the moment facing regulatory uncertainties will stop naira deposits after March 5, while withdrawals will end on March 8 2024 as indicated in the statement.
“Binance will discontinue all Nigerian Naira (NGN) services as per the timeline below,” the statement reads.
“Users are encouraged to withdraw NGN, trade their NGN assets or convert NGN into crypto to the discontinuation of these NGN services.
“From 2024-03-08, any remaining NGN balances in users’ Binance accounts will be automatically converted to USDT” based on a conversion rate set by the company.
The company added that it will also delist all existing NGN spot trading pairs on March 7, 2024. The naira will be removed from the list of supported payment options on Binance Pay, the exchange’s payment solution.
