Binance Responds to Nigerian Central Bank's Crypto Ban, Advises Traders to Withdraw Naira ASAP

Binance, one of the largest crypto exchanges by trading volume has come to the rescue of Nigerian crypto-traders as the Central Bank of Nigeria decided to ban crypto trading service by cutting all banking services to crypto traders and exchanges.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao took to Twitter to advise Nigerian crypto traders to withdraw all their Naira from Binance as soon as possible to safeguard their profits. Zhao also advised on converting Naira for Binance Coin so that they can still trade without having to leave the platform. The crypto exchange is also looking at creating a P2P corridor for the Nigerian traders.

This is what happens when one tries to "ban crypto" ????.

If you have $NGN on Binance, you can:
1. withdraw NGN soon, or
2. convert to #crypto and hold it

It is likely that the Nigeria banks will stop working with exchanges. P2P trading will likely flourish as a result. https://t.co/GhA6M2GMOg

— CZ ???? Binance (@cz_binance) February 5, 2021

The Nigerian Central Bank announced a banking ban on cryptocurrency trading, prohibiting banks from offering their service to the crypto exchanges and users. The banking ban sparked quite an outrage among crypto traders given the soaring popularity of digital assets in the country.

How important is crypto in Nigeria? On binance today the value of BTC/NGN trades was worth N13.4bn. For context the volume of trade on the Nigerian stock exchange today was N5.6bn. And binance is just one exchange.

— Nonso Obikili (@nonso2) February 5, 2021

Decentralization is Overcoming Government Bans

Before Nigeria, a similar form of banking ban was imposed by the Indian Central Bank RBI that led many Indian crypto exchanges to either shift their services overseas or shut their operation. However, despite the banking ban and wide misconceptions of a blanket ban in the country, the P2P market flourished, and Indian crypto-traders continued trading before the banking was finally withdrawn post-Supreme court judgment.

Nigeria could also see a similar surge in trading volume in the P2P market in the coming days and with Binance coming to their rescue, it seems the decentralization would help Nigerian traders bypass the banking ban.

Governments around the world have tried banning bitcoin and crypto trading but to no avail as the popularity of p2p markets and the decentralized nature of crypto help them overcome such hurdles. Thus many countries had to repeal these bans including the likes of the US, India, and most recently Pakistan.

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Prashant Jha

An engineering graduate, Prashant focuses on UK and Indian markets. As a crypto-journalist, his interests lie in blockchain technology adoption across emerging economies.

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