No More Naira Trading: Another Crypto Exchange Suspends Naira Card, Other Services After Binance
- KuCoin, a cryptocurrency exchange, announced it has stopped its naira cards and peer-to-peer naira services
- This occurred after the Securities and Exchange Commission recently advised cryptocurrency exchanges to stop trading naira
- Although no timeframe was given, KuCoin promised consumers that they would be informed when the services would be restored
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Popular cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin stated on Wednesday, May 15th, that its fast-buy service using naira cards and peer-to-peer naira services would be temporarily suspended.
Source: Getty Images
The decision was made just a few weeks after the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission met with important national cryptocurrency players and advised them to stop trading naira to naira P2P due to the naira's present instability.
Although KuCoin stated that the suspension was due to ongoing efforts to improve its services, many people think the action was taken in response to regulatory pressure from the Nigerian government.
Part of its statement on X read,
“We regret to inform our Nigerian users of the temporary pause of our P2P services.
“We are eagerly looking forward to resuming the P2P Nigerian Naira (NGN) services and fast-buy service via Naira cards in a fully compliant manner.”
What this mean
While no timeframe was given, KuCoin has promised consumers that they would be informed when the services are restored.
With this, KuCoin joins the ranks of cryptocurrency exchanges that have stopped offering P2P services in Nigeria.
Binance and OKX were the first to do so earlier this year when they eliminated support for the naira and ned N64 against the dollar on Wednesday, April 15th, naira from their platforms.
Meanwhile the naira gained N64 against the dollar on Wednesday, April 15th to close at N1,459.09/$1 in the official market based on FMDQ data.
This marks a significant improvement from the N1,520.40/$1 it traded the previous day.
Recent events
Authorities in Nigeria have been cracking down on cryptocurrency exchanges in recent months, claiming that they are worried about the effect on the naira, the country's currency.
A few weeks ago, fintechs and banks were instructed to cease opening new branches and to disclose any accounts associated with Bitcoin transactions.
The directive was issued in line with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's decision to freeze hundreds of cryptocurrency trading accounts.
, increasingly using cryptocurrency, citing legal prohibitions against such conduct.
Nigeria saw a surge in the adoption of cryptocurrencies despite the ban, moving up to the second rank in the world in 2023 according to a crypto adoption index. Nigerians were using cryptocurrency more and more to safeguard their investments as the value of the naira has fallen.
According to experts in a Punch report, the crackdown will probably drive millions of Nigerians to engage in riskier peer-to-peer transactions, harming the nation's standing.
They contend that in order to protect interests and encourage innovation, a more balanced regulatory approach is necessary.
Binance founder bags prison sentence
Legit.ng reported that the founder of the most popular cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Changpeng Zhao, admitted guilty to money-laundering charges last year and was given a four-month prison sentence on Tuesday, April 30.
The term is significantly less than the three years that the prosecution had requested, having been handed down in a US federal court in Seattle.
Before the Tuesday sentence session, CNN reported that Zhao regretted his errors while serving as the CEO of Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange he established in 2017.
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Source: Legit.ng
