Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has made the decision to cease its Nigerian Naira (NGN) services in response to increasing regulatory scrutiny and pressure from Nigerian authorities.
The move follows a crackdown by the Federal Government of Nigeria, aimed at addressing instability in the forex market, which has prompted Binance to remove all assets associated with the Naira amid regulatory clampdown.
Why is Binance leaving Nigeria?
The decision to exit the Nigerian market comes after the government accused Binance of triggering problems in the country’s FX market. The House of Representatives threatened to issue a warrant for the arrest of Binance’s CEO, and insisted that only Binance executives should appear before the committee.
Binance executives faced additional challenges when two employees were detained upon arrival in Nigeria last week. These detentions occurred as part of the government’s investigation into Binance’s alleged role in currency manipulation and illegal operations.
Discontinuation of NGN Services
In response to the regulatory scrutiny, Binance has decided to discontinue all NGN services, including spot trading, Binance Convert, Binance P2P, Auto Invest, and Binance Pay.
- Deposits, Withdrawals and Conversions: 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).
- Spot trading: all existing NGN spot trading pairs will be removed at 2024-03-07 03:00 (UTC).
- Convert: Binance Convert will delist NGN and all corresponding pairs at 2024-03-07 02:00 (UTC).
- Binance P2P: all Naira trading pairs were already delisted on at 2024-02-28 15:00 (UTC).
- Auto Invest: Auto-Invest will delist NGN after 2024-03-06 03:00 (UTC).
- Binance Pay: NGN will be removed from the list of supported payment options on Binance Pay at 2024-03-06 03:00 (UTC).
Binance users are urged to withdraw their NGN assets, trade them, or convert them into cryptocurrency before the discontinuation of NGN services.
Impact on Users
Binance customers are advised to take action before the specified dates to avoid any inconvenience. Binance will not support deposits or withdrawals of NGN after March 5, 2024, and any remaining NGN balances will be automatically converted to USDT based on the conversion rate.
Users are advised to find another crypto exchange in Nigeria to continue their cryptocurrency investments and trading. Nigerian investors are in most cases purchasing crypto through P2P market, and multiple exchanges are still operating in the country and servicing Nigerian customers.
Binance Alternatives: Nigeria exchanges with P2P
Our list of exchanges in Nigeria should be enough to satisfy anyone’s needs. You can furthermore filter Nigerian exchanges by Peer-to-Peer trading capability, giving you 12 different options (aside from Binance).
Some of the best P2P exchanges in Nigeria are:
Check our reviews to find out more about these exchanges. You are also welcome to take advantage of our signup codes for special fee discounts and other benefits.
It’s important to point out that at this point Binance still plans to continue providing service to Nigerian users, as the exchange has not been prohibited to do so. All products and services are available to Nigerians, and only NGN-related services are getting discontinued.
