Market News

Ekaete BasseyMarch 18, 2024

Following the exit of Binance from Nigeria, cryptocurrency traders are seeking other naira exchange platforms to carry out their trading.

 reported that Binance, on March, 5 announced plans to quit providing services related to the nairaw amid its crackdown by the Federal Government to salvage what seemed to be the free fall of the nation’s legal tender.

The global crypto exchange platform advised users to withdraw naira deposits on the said day, warning that any  balance on the platform by March 8 would be converted to Tether — a cryptocurrency stablecoin pegged to the United States dollar.

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had raised concerns on the possibility of illicit transactions and money laundering on the cryptocurrency exchanges and other abuses, including the manipulation of the forex market.

Two Binance officials were arrested by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuru Ribadu, over allegations of “illegal transactions”.

The Federal Government also demanded at least $10 billion as retribution from Binance amid the crackdown on the crypto exchange platform in desperate moves to strengthen the naira.

However, the exit and delisting of Naira on Binance unsettled millions of crypto traders and investors in Nigeria even as they explore ways of navigating through the recent tide.

In the build to seeking peer-to-peer exchange among traders across using the naira, the crypto market of over 22 million investors have, nonetheless, chosen to stay optimistic on scouting for substitute platforms that could handle their transactions.

A crypto trader, Frank Edwards, told our correspondent  that the exit of Binance has had an adverse effect on his trading.

He said: “It has been a negative experience and impact on the business (cryptocurrency) side of things.

“Our government just like to look for scape goats for every situation they create for themselves. Unfortunately, the youths are on the receiving end not Binance as Nigeria government thought.”

He said it was difficult for him to trade like he used to as he pointed out about having his asset as stock.

Asked about discovering any option outside Binance, Edwards said: “Definitely, one has to look for an alternative which I have.

“KuCoin is gaining popularity at the moment. Their P2P community is growing with fast pace.”

He explained that a user could still trade on Binance if they had USD in their wallet, adding: “What you can’t do  on Binance is trade in naira or trade P2P in naira again. So, since our legal tender is naira, it means you can’t withdraw your money or sell your cryptocurrencies for naira.”

Meanwhile, our correspondent observed via a survey on X app that many crypto investors have pitched tent with platforms like Kucoin as stated by Edwards.

In the survey, an internet user asked what alternatives traders were resorting to. Kucoin and Bybit were conspicuously the prominent mentioned. However, the post was deleted in no time after some X users suggested that it might be putting the respondents as well as their newfound alternatives in harm’s way.

KuCoin is reported to be a relatively new but large cryptocurrency exchange based out of Hong Kong, established in May 2017 by a team of blockchain and crypto professionals who started developing and building the exchange architecture back in 2011.

Owned by Mek Global Limited/Kucoin Group with Johnny Lyu as the CEO, its headquartered in Seychelles.

The platform which is available in over 200 countries with over 31 million users globally, allows users to buy, trade, or sell digital assets and use features such as P2P trading, futures, margins, lend or stake assets, and more.

As with most cryptocurrency exchanges, KuCoin is not regulated by any reputable regulatory agencies.

Similarly, Bybit whose co-founder and CEO is Ben Zhou, is a cryptocurrency derivative trading platform established in March 2018, registered in the British Virgin Islands and headquartered in Singapore.

With over 20 million users worldwide, it offers more than 230 perpetual and futures contracts. The exchange which gives traders the ability to trade cryptocurrency perpetual contracts with up to 100x leverage. It also offers basic coin swaps and other crypto services.