Binance discontinues Naira services

Crypto exchange platform, Binance, on Tuesday disclosed plans to discontinue all Nigerian Naira (NGN) services on its platform, with a detailed timeline provided for users to take necessary actions.

According to the notice it sent to its customers, Binance users are urged to withdraw their naira balances, trade their NGN assets, or convert naira into cryptocurrencies before the discontinuation of NGN services.

It noted that this discontinuation affects NGN services exclusively, and users can continue to utilise services and products for other available cryptocurrencies on the platform.

Nigeria is recognised as one of the largest cryptocurrency markets globally.

Timeline

On Tuesday, Binance said it will discontinue deposits in naira after Tuesday afternoon and will no longer support withdrawals of the currency after 6 a.m. Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) on Friday.

It said auto-invest for naira will be de-listed and payment in naira will be removed as a supported payment on its app by Wednesday at 3 a.m. (UTC).

Converting to naira will also be de-listed along with corresponding pairs at 2 a.m. On Thursday, naira Spot Trading Pairs including BTC/NGN and USDT/NGN, will be de-listed at 3 a.m.

Starting this Friday, any remaining naira balances in user accounts will be automatically exchanged for Tether, a cryptocurrency stablecoin tied to the value of the U.S. dollar. It said it would be exchanged at a rate of 1 USDT equivalent to 1,515.13 NGN after Friday at 8 a.m. UTC.

It told its users to note that the conversion rate will be based on the average closing price of the USDT/NGN trading pair on Binance Spot over the last seven days.

The statement added that the conversion process may take up to approximately 24 hours or longer. Following the conversion, USDT tokens will be credited to users’ Spot wallets, and users can verify the receipt of tokens via the Convert History page.

For users with balances of 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 post-conversion.

Backstory

The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, told journalists that about $26 billion flowed through Binance Nigeria over the past year from ‘unknown sources’.

The federal government has also accused the platform of engaging in foreign exchange rate manipulation through currency speculation and rate fixing.

The Nigerian government had earlier blocked the online platforms of Binance and other crypto firms to halt what it described as continuous manipulation of the forex market and illicit movement of funds.

It later detained two executives of the Binance crypto exchange platform after they flew into the country as part of moves to negotiate with the Nigerian authorities amid a crackdown on the crypto platform.