Breaking: Binance suspends Naira services due to escalating legal disputes

The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, announced on its app that it would be discontinuing all of its Naira services as of March 8 due to regulatory issues in Nigeria.

The company, which is at the epicenter of the nation’s cryptocurrency crackdown, will cease accepting naira deposits on March 5 and withdrawing funds on March 8.

The exchange announced in a statement on Tuesday that “any remaining NGN balances in users’ Binance accounts will be automatically converted to USDT.”

On March 7, Binance will likewise delist all of the current NGN spot trading pairings. The exchange’s payment system, Binance Pay, would no longer accept the naira as a form of payment.

Binance imposed restrictions on peer-to-peer trades in the USDT/NGN pair two weeks ago. The cryptocurrency exchange restricted trading for the second time in six months, disabling the “sell” feature and capping the buy option for Nigerian users at ₦1802.

Nigeria’s crackdown on global cryptocurrency exchanges coincides with the exchange’s decision. Two of the company’s leaders were taken into custody by the National Security Adviser’s (NSA) office last week.

After a ban on the company’s website caused the two to take a plane into the nation. According to a presidential adviser, authorities have fined Binance $10 billion and accused the company of profiting from “illegal transactions.” The cryptocurrency exchange says it is unaware of the fine.

The Central Bank changed its position on cryptocurrency companies last year, which is why the company is having difficulties.