Binance To Leave Nigerian Market, End Services In Naira

Cryptocurrency giant, Binance Holdings Ltd, has announced that it will leave the Nigerian market and discontinue all its services for the naira.

Naija News reports that the cryptocurrency company made the announcement in a blog post on its website on Tuesday.

The firm said the crypto exchange will automatically convert naira balances to USDT from March 8 at 8:00 a.m. UTC but will cease support for NGN deposits after 14:00 UTC today.

According to the crypto company, withdrawals will become unsupported after March 8 at 6:00 a.m. UTC, adding that the conversion rate for automatic conversions will be 1 USDT per 1,515.13 naira.

It added that all spot trading pairs against the naira will be delisted on March 7 at 3:00 a.m. UTC and open spot orders for these pairs will be automatically closed.

The company also stated that Binance Convert, Binance P2P, the exchange’s Auto Invest feature, and Binance Pay will also cease support for the naira at various dates and times.

“Users are encouraged to withdraw NGN, trade their NGN assets or convert NGN into crypto prior to the discontinuation of these NGN services,” the blog post read in parts.

Recall that the Nigerian government had reportedly directed mobile networks to prevent access to Binance platforms.

This forced the cryptocurrency exchange giant to remove the naira from its peer-to-peer feature.

Two employees of Binance were also allegedly detained by the office of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, as part of an investigation into the cryptocurrency exchange’s operations in the country.