Binance Suspends Naira Services Amid Regulatory Conflict

Binance, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange platform, has announced the suspension of its services for Nigeria’s fiat currency, the naira, citing ongoing regulatory disputes in the country.

The decision follows accusations leveled against Binance, alleging exploitation of Nigeria’s currency, the naira, which has reportedly contributed to its devaluation. Furthermore, the company faces allegations related to terrorism financing, money laundering, and tax evasion.

Effective March 8 at 8:00 a.m. UTC, Binance will automatically convert naira balances to USDT (Tether), with support for NGN deposits ceasing after 14:00 UTC on the same day. Withdrawals of naira will be discontinued after March 8 at 6:00 a.m. UTC.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Binance advised its users to withdraw naira balances, trade their NGN assets, or convert NGN into cryptocurrency before the cessation of NGN services.

The statement outlined the timeline and procedure for the conversion of remaining NGN balances to USDT, stating, “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.” This conversion rate is calculated based on the average closing price of the USDT/NGN trading pair on Binance Spot over the last seven days.

Users are urged to note that the conversion process may take up to 24 hours or longer, with USDT tokens credited to users’ Spot wallets upon completion. Additionally, users holding less than 0.00000001 USDT worth of NGN in their wallets will receive 0.00000001 USDT in their Spot wallets following the conversion.