Binance, a global cryptocurrency exchange, has disclosed that it will discontinue all services for Nigeria’s fiat currency, the naira, amid an ongoing regulatory conflict in the country.
Binance, in an announcement on its website on Tuesday, revealed that 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. Withdrawals will become unsupported after March 8 at 6:00 a.m. UTC.
It added that the conversion rate for automatic conversions will be 1 USDT per 1,515.13 naira. All spot trading pairs against the naira will be delisted on March 7 at 3:00 a.m. UTC. Open spot orders for these pairs will be automatically closed.
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.
The news of the complete removal of the Nigerian naira from Binance comes amid the company facing significant regulatory scrutiny in Nigeria.
On Feb. 27, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria argued that crypto exchanges in Nigeria were suspected to be handling illicit transactions and also pointed to “suspicious flows” of funds at Binance.
Nigeria’s National Security Adviser also reportedly confiscated the passports of two Binance executives in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The authority also reportedly confiscated the passports of the execs, who are citizens of the United States and the United Kingdom.