BREAKING: Binance to depart Nigerian market, ends services in local currency

FILE PHOTO: A composition showing crypto currency with the Binance logo. Picture taken on Nov. 10, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

Binance will discontinue all services for Nigeria’s fiat currency, the naira, amid an ongoing regulatory conflict in the country.

The 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.

Posting on its website on Tuesday, Binance said the conversion rate for automatic conversions will be 1 USDT per 1,515.13 naira, according to an announcement.

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.