Updated: 3 days ago
By
Temitope Hassan
Nigeria Binance
Cryptocurrency trading platform, Binance, has advised Nigerians trading on its exchange to withdraw all their NGN assets as it discontinues services in the country.
According to the platform’s announcement on March 5, 2024, starting at 8:00 UTC on March 8, all remaining NGN balances in Binance users’ accounts will be automatically converted to USDT stablecoin.
The platform also said all NGN deposits will be suspended, March 5, 2024.
In addition, Binance will completely stop supporting NGN in spot trading, P2P, Auto Invest, and Binance Pay.
The company said; “Fellow Binancians, Binance will discontinue all Nigerian Naira (NGN) services as per the timeline below. Users are encouraged to withdraw NGN, trade their NGN assets or convert NGN into crypto prior to the discontinuation of these NGN services.
“From 2024-03-08 08:00 (UTC), any remaining NGN balances in users’ Binance accounts will be automatically converted to USDT based on the conversion rate below.
“Binance will not support deposits of NGN after 2024-03-05 14:00 (UTC).
“Withdrawals of NGN will not be supported after 2024-03-08 06:00 (UTC).
“After 2024-03-08 08:00 (UTC), Binance will convert any remaining NGN balances in users’ Spot and Funding wallets into USDT on behalf of users at a ratio of 1 USDT = 1,515.13 NGN.
“Please note that the conversion rate is calculated based on the average closing price of the USDT/NGN trading pair on Binance Spot in the last seven days.
“The conversion may take approximately up to 24 hours or longer. USDT tokens will be credited to users’ Spot wallets thereafter, and users can confirm receipt of the tokens via the Convert History page.
“If users hold less than 0.00000001 USDT worth of NGN in their Spot and Funding wallets, they will each receive 0.00000001 USDT in their Spot wallets after the conversion.”
This comes amidst ongoing rancour with the Nigerian government over Binance operations in the country.
The crypto platform is being accused of manipulating the country’s currency leading to its steady fall against other currencies. Some of its executives are also currently being detained by the Nigerian government.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Nigerian authorities allegedly demanded $10 billion in compensation from Binance for manipulating the naira exchange rate. However, both the exchange and adviser to the President of Nigeria, Bayo Onanuga, subsequently denied this information.
In addition, the Nigerian House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes has demanded that Binance CEO Richard Teng appear before the department no later than March 4 to testify regarding alleged terrorist financing and money laundering.
Meanwhile, the President of the Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria, Obinna Iwuno, has disclosed that traders on cryptocurrency trading platform, Binance are not anonymous, adding they can be traced.
Iwuno, a trained crypto investigator, revealed this as a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast show, The Morning Brief, on Tuesday.
Iwuno said, “The CBN governor said $26bn is unidentified but what he has not told us is how they arrived at the $26bn because that is the only basis that I will fault or right the CBN.
“I am a certified cryptocurrency investigator. I am also a certified cryptocurrency compliance specialist. I can tell you that these things are traceable. You cannot perform a transaction, as long as it passes through the blockchain, that cannot be traced.
“If you use a centralised exchange like Binance, it is finished because you cannot be on those platform without your identity being known.”
He said most crypto platforms use Bank Verification Number and driver’s licence as know-your-customer verification measures.
He insisted that there was no way a trader would be on Binance and could not be traced, adding that Interpol and other security agencies had in the past cracked down on bad actors in the blockchain technology value chain.
The trained crypto investigator also said the Federal Government has failed to regulate virtual asset services in the country, hence, there is no regulation that bind Binance to Nigeria, which has one of the company’s biggest traders.
“Binance is not licensed to operate in Nigeria. Nigeria did not regulate virtual asset services and providers and this is what we have been calling for, for years. Because of that, there is no regulation that made them binding to us. If there was regulation in the country, Binance will be a member of SiBAN,” he said.
Iwuno noted that his association has been against bad eggs in the industry and had come up with many initiatives to stifle those with sharp practices.
Two Binance executives were arrested in Nigeria last week and the government has demanded about $10bn compensation from the cryptocurrency platform on allegations of manipulation of foreign exchange rates which has negatively affected the value of the naira against the dollar.
Share News with us via Email: info.sealnewsoffice@gmail.com
📡Join Our Social Media Channels: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaNXREtFnSzHhFFoV40x