In light of regulatory tensions within Nigeria, Binance is set to temporarily pause its services linked to the nation’s fiat currency, the naira.
Allegations surfaced against Binance, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, accusing it of manipulating the value of Nigeria’s currency, the Naira, resulting in a sharp decline.
In addition, the company faces allegations of involvement in terrorism financing, money laundering, and tax evasion, among a host of other charges.
Beginning March 8 at 8:00 a.m. UTC, the cryptocurrency exchange will initiate automatic conversion of naira balances to USDT, following the cessation of support for NGN deposits after 14:00 UTC today. Withdrawals will cease to be supported as of March 8 at 6:00 a.m. UTC.
The company, in a Tuesday announcement, advised users to take action by withdrawing NGN funds, trading NGN assets, or converting NGN into cryptocurrency.
The statement read, “Users are encouraged to withdraw NGN, trade their NGN assets or convert NGN into crypto prior to the discontinuation of these NGN services.
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“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.
“Please note that 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.”