Updated on Feb. 22 at 9:30 am UTC: Screenshot of Binance responding to customers added.
An adviser to Nigeria’s president has called for a ban on Binance, KuCoin and other trading platforms in the country.
Bayo Onanuga — President Bola Tinubu’s adviser on information and strategy — took to the X social media platform to allege that the platforms manipulated the country’s fiat currency, the Nigerian naira, contributing to the ongoing decline of the currency in the forex market. This is coming amid speculations that the government is already considering a ban.
The Naira-Dollar manipulators
— Bayo Onanuga (@aonanuga1956) February 21, 2024
I chanced on an X post Tuesday night by one Brother Bernard @Mikael C Bernard who railed against what he called the order of the EFCC, NSA on Finance to set a cap on traders selling USD tokens for Naira equivalent.
He disclosed that token sellers… pic.twitter.com/c9YBjawJMz
In a post titled “The Naira-Dollar Manipulators,” the presidential adviser accused Nigerians of being unpatriotic when trading on the Binance platform. Onanuga called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to halt the operations of cryptocurrency exchanges in the country quickly. He said:
“The EFCC and the CBN should move against these platforms trying to manipulate our national currency to Ground Zero. Crypto should be banned in our country, or else this bleeding of our currency will continue unabated”
Onanuga mentioned that Binance is under regulatory scrutiny in several countries and should not be granted the authority to determine the value of the naira on its crypto exchange platform. However, on Feb. 22, Binance distanced itself from the forex crisis in Nigeria, saying its platform is “market-driven and not intended to be a proxy for currency pricing in Nigeria.”
Crypto users in Nigeria have reported difficulty accessing different crypto exchange websites, including Binance, OctaFX and others. This development arose on the evening of Feb. 21, with speculation of a possible government ban on crypto platforms.
Binance responded to the development in an email to its users, saying that it is aware of the situation and clarified that the issue only affected the online platform and that the Binance app is still functional. The exchange assured users that it is actively engaging with regulators to foster an open, transparent dialogue about managing the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency in the country.
Related: Nigeria urged to regulate cryptocurrency to tackle financial crimes
Binance set a limit on the selling price of Tether (USDT) tokens on its peer-to-peer (P2P) platform, leaving traders unable to sell USDT above 1,802 naira per USDT. However, contrary to speculation by the local crypto community, the exchange explained that the price peg was due to an automatic system pause.
Nigeria is currently the biggest P2P market in the world, which came about after the CBN banned institutions from buying and selling crypto in 2021. However, a circular sent to banks in December 2023 lifted the crypto ban on Nigerian banks facilitating cryptocurrency transactions.
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