Binance halts Nigerian naira trading amid currency manipulation controversy

Binance, a leading global cryptocurrency exchange, has announced that it will be stopping its services for the Nigerian Naira (NGN), citing ongoing issues with the Nigerian government.

The cessation of NGN services on Binance also comes amidst accusations of currency manipulation and the detention of Binance executives by Nigerian authorities. 

In a statement released on March 5, 2024, Binance announced that users would have until March 8 to withdraw all NGN assets from their accounts. After March 5, the platform would no longer accept deposits in NGN, and any remaining balances would be automatically converted to USDT, a stablecoin backed by the US dollar. 

The decision by the Nigerian government to block access to the Binance website came after allegations that the platform was involved in manipulating the NGN, leading to its depreciation against other currencies. The Nigerian government had previously issued a directive to banks to stop providing services to cryptocurrency exchanges, which Binance had been accused of circumventing.

On its part, Binance outlined a timeline for the cessation of various services related to NGN, including the removal of NGN spot trading pairs and the delisting of NGN from the Binance P2P platform. NGN would also be removed from the list of supported payment options on Binance Pay, Binance’s payment gateway.

The company said while it discontinues trading in the Nigerian currency, its customers can continue to make use of other Binance services and products for other available cryptocurrencies.

According to analysts, the discontinuation of Binance’s NGN services is not only a significant development in the relationship between crypto exchanges and the Nigerian government, but also a sign of the broader challenges facing the cryptocurrency market. This is as Nigeria has been at the forefront of the crypto adoption in Africa, but the industry remains largely unregulated.