After FG’s seige, Binance stops naira services

In response to the ongoing regulatory conflict in Nigeria, cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced the discontinuation of all services for the country’s fiat currency, the naira.

Effective March 8 at 8:00 a.m. UTC, Binance will automatically convert naira balances to USDT (Tether) at a conversion rate of 1 USDT per 1,515.13 naira.

However, support for NGN deposits will cease after 14:00 UTC on the same day, with withdrawals becoming unsupported after March 8 at 6:00 a.m. UTC.

The decision, posted on Binance’s website on Tuesday, also entails the delisting of all spot trading pairs against the naira on March 7 at 3:00 a.m. UTC. Any open spot orders for these pairs will be automatically closed.

Binance Convert, Binance P2P, the exchange’s Auto Invest feature, and Binance Pay will discontinue support for the naira at various dates and times.

The move comes amidst a regulatory conflict in Nigeria, where authorities have been scrutinising cryptocurrency operations and imposing restrictions on the industry.

Binance’s decision to halt naira services reflects the challenges faced by cryptocurrency exchanges in navigating regulatory uncertainty in certain jurisdictions.

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Oluwasegun Sanusi

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