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CBN ban: Binance removes naira from crypto trading pairs

Published

4 years ago

February 8, 2021

One of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges by volume, Binance, has removed naira from its trading pairs after the Central Bank of Nigeria asked banks and other financial institutions to close the accounts used for cryptocurrency operations..

Binance made this known in a statement sent to traders and made available on its website on Monday titled, ‘Notice of removal of trading pairs’.

It noted that the removal takes effect from Tuesday, February 8, 2021.

The exchanges urged users to transfer their peer-to-peer wallet for transactions.

The statement read, “Binance will remove and cease trading on the following trading pairs at 2021-02-09 12:00 PM (UTC): BNB/NGN, BUSD/NGN, DOT/NGN, ETH/NGN, LINK/NGN, LTC/NGN, TRX/NGN, XRP/NGN.

“Please note: NGN is fiat currency and does not represent any other digital currencies.

“Users can transfer their fiat or crypto balance to their P2P wallet, and buy or sell cryptocurrency with NGN at zero fees on the Binance P2P platform.

“Users can still trade the above assets in other trading pairs that are available on Binance.

“Risk warning – Cryptocurrency trading is subject to high market risk. Please make your trades cautiously.

“Binance will make best efforts to choose high-quality coins, but will not be responsible for your trading losses.”

…Binance suspends deposits in Nigeria indefinitely

Earlier, Binance temporarily suspended deposits in Nigerian naira after CBN directed local banks to identify and close all accounts tied to cryptocurrency platforms or operations.

In a statement, Binance said, “We are aware of the recent circular shared by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) around cryptocurrency-related Nigerian naira (NGN) payment activities in Nigeria and we are monitoring the situation closely.

“Please note all your funds on Binance.com remain safe and crypto services on Binance.com will continue as normal.

“However, our NGN payment partners are suspending deposit services until further notice. From 7PM (GMT+1) on February 5, 2021, Binance will temporarily suspend NGN deposits through our fiat partner channels. Withdrawal services remain normal and will continue to be processed but might take slightly longer time than usual.”

Withdraw your naira

The founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, Changpeng Zhao has reacted to the order by the Central Bank of Nigeria which prohibits commercial banks and all non-banking financial institutions from transactions involving cryptocurrencies.

Reacting to the order which, according to Zhao, will affect naira deposits and withdrawals, the Binance CEO advised the withdrawal of naira to avoid potential channel issues.

“Received notice from our channel partners that NGN deposits and withdrawals will be affected,” the CEO wrote on his official Twitter handle on Friday.

“Still confirming details on when/how. Please withdraw your NGN as early as possible to avoid potential channel issues. Will share more details as they become available.”

In another tweet, he said, “To err on the safe side, we have also disabled deposits to prevent more NGN coming in.”