Binance kisses Nigeria bye-bye following heavy government crackdown on crypto exchanges

Cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance has announced that it will stop all transactions and trading in Nigeria’s local currency after March 8 in response to a country-wide crackdown on crypto exchanges.

The Nigerian authorities, including the Central Bank, have blamed the crypto exchange firm for manipulating the forex market and feeding a black market for foreign exchange.

Binance added that it will stop supporting withdrawals after Friday, and any remaining balances in Nigerian Naira will be automatically converted into a stable coin whose value is pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Nigeria is facing tough economic realities due to the eventual removal of fuel subsidies and the poor performance of the Naira against the US dollar, among other challenges, leading to a sudden jump in the country’s inflation rate to nearly 30 per cent.

In recent times, the government has cracked down heavily on the activities of the cryptocurrency trading website and also detained its top officials as part of efforts to curb volatility in the forex market.

The presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, explained that the activities of the firm will destroy the Nigerian economy if left alone to operate without government intervention.

He said, “We have saboteurs. Look at what Binance is doing to our economy. That is why the government moved against Binance. Some people sit down using the cyberspace to dictate even our exchange rate, hijacking the role of the CBN.

“They just sit down and fix anything they like. It’s a sabotage and we are trying to prevent that from happening henceforth.”

Onanuga further called on Nigerians to halt patronising the parallel market for Forex rates, adding that the website of the apex bank is the only legal platform.

“The parallel market is not the real gauge of Nigeria’s economic health. The parallel market is an illegal market.

“I don’t even know why Nigerians and the media are feeding on the parallel market. That is not where we should go; what’s the CBN rate? As at Friday, the rate for the dollar was about N1600.”