Crypto trading platform, Binance, has advised Nigerians trading on its platform to withdraw all their naira assets as it prepares to discontinue services in the country.
This comes amidst ongoing rancour with the Nigerian government over Binance operations in the country.
The crypto platform is being accused of manipulating the country’s currency leading to its steady fall against other currencies. Some of its executives are also currently being detained by the Nigerian government.
There has been confusion over the $10bn fine imposed on the platform as a retribution for what the federal government called illegal transactions within the country.
Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga, in an interview with the BBC announced the fine.
He stated that people used the platform to arbitrarily fix dollar-naira rates; a practice he said negatively impacted the value of the local currency.
The crackdown on the platform is part of the ongoing interventions to check the sharp drop in the value of the naira with many Nigerians expressing mixed reactions over whether the actions against Binance would bring down the forex rate.
Amidst the crackdown, the company said it stopped Naira deposit yesterday, stating Nigerians have until March 8 to withdraw their assets.
It said any asset not withdrawn by that date would be converted to USDT.
The company in a statement released on Tuesday and published on its website, read: “Fellow Binancians, Binance will discontinue all Nigerian Naira (NGN) services as per the timeline below. Users are encouraged to withdraw NGN, trade their NGN assets or convert NGN into crypto prior to the discontinuation of these NGN services. From 2024-03-08 08:00 (UTC), any remaining NGN balances in users’ Binance accounts will be automatically converted to USDT based on the conversion rate below.
“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).
After 2024-03-08 08:00 (UTC), Binance will convert any remaining NGN balances in users’ Spot and Funding wallets into USDT on behalf of users at a ratio of 1 USDT = 1,515.13 NGN.”
It said the conversion rate is calculated based on the average closing price of the USDT/NGN trading pair on Binance Spot in the last seven days.
“The conversion may take approximately up to 24 hours or longer. USDT tokens will be credited to users’ Spot wallets thereafter, and users can confirm receipt of the tokens via the Convert History page. If users hold less than 0.00000001 USDT worth of NGN in their Spot and Funding wallets, they will each receive 0.00000001 USDT in their Spot wallets after the conversion.”
The announcement by the platform has been generating ripples within the blockchain community.
President of the Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria, Obinna Iwuno, disclosed that traders on cryptocurrency trading platform, Binance, are not anonymous, adding they can be traced.
Iwuno, speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast show yesterday, said, “The CBN governor said $26bn is unidentified but what he has not told us is how they arrived at the $26bn because that is the only basis that I will fault or right the CBN.
“I am a certified cryptocurrency investigator. I am also a certified cryptocurrency compliance specialist. I can tell you that these things are traceable. You cannot perform a transaction, as long as it passes through the blockchain, that cannot be traced.”