Binance and Coinbase exchanges may be banned in Nigeria

Bayo Onanuga, Adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinbubu, appealed to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ban the operation of crypto exchanges in the country.

Binance users are not patriots

In the post, Onanuga accused Nigerians trading on Binance of not being patriotic. He stated that cryptocurrency platforms are manipulating the state’s national currency, the Nigerian naira. According to him, crypto exchanges are contributing to the depreciation of the naira in the foreign exchange market.

Amid the politician’s statements, Nigerian authorities ordered the country’s telecommunications companies to block access to the Binance, OctaFX and Coinbase websites. About this the day before started writing users residing in Nigeria.

However, some notethat trading platform applications still work without problems and open without a VPN.

Notably, in December 2023, the CBN changed its mind regarding digital assets. Regulator lifted the ban for cryptocurrency transactions, which was introduced in 2021.

Binance's response

Representatives of the largest crypto exchange sent emails to Nigerian users. They noted that they are aware of the current situation and are actively interacting with Nigerian regulatory authorities.

Binance previously placed a cap on the selling price of Tether (USDT) on its peer-to-peer (P2P) platform. As a result, traders could not sell USDT at a price higher than 1,802 naira ($1.13) per stablecoin.

The trading platform explained that the price drop was caused by an automatic pause in the system. Representatives denied all accusations of possible market manipulation.

Last August, Nigerian authorities accused Binance of illegally conducting business in the country. However, it later became clear that the organization Binance Nigeria Limited, which was targeted by the regulator, has nothing to do with the crypto exchange.