Nigeria's Presidential Adviser Calls for Ban on Crypto Trading Platforms Amid Devaluation Concerns
Summary:
Nigeria's Presidential Adviser, Bayo Onanuga, advocates for a ban on trading platforms such as Binance and KuCoin, blaming them for the devaluation of the Nigerian currency in the forex market. Calling for action from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Onanuga insists these platforms are manipulating the Naira and require regulation. Despite facing regulatory issues in multiple countries, Binance disregards its alleged contribution to Nigeria's forex crisis, citing its platform is market-driven. The call for regulation comes as Nigeria currently dominates as the world's largest peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto market.
Nigeria's presidential adviser, Bayo Onanuga, has urged for a prohibition on Binance, KuCoin, and other similar platforms in the nation. Accusing these platforms of manipulating the naira via a post shared on a social media platform, he has pointed out their utmost contribution to the forex market downfall of the Nigerian currency. This comes amid hints that a government ban is already underway.
In an exposé titled "The Naira-Dollar Manipulators", Onanuga has condemned Nigerians for unloyalty when trading the national currency on the Binance platform. Stressing immediate intervention by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), he urged to stop the functioning of cryptocurrency exchanges in Nigeria. In his words, the EFCC and CBN must act against such platforms that are driving the value of our national currency downward. The trading of cryptocurrency should either be prohibited or else we could witness continuous devaluation of our currency.
Onanuga further remarked that Binance, already facing regulatory issues in multiple countries, shouldn't be given the power to fix the value of the Naira on its own platform. According to Onanuga, Binance, a notorious cryptocurrency trading platform, is already facing access limitations in many countries such as the US, Singapore, UK, and Canada.
Binance issued a statement on Feb. 22 to distance itself from the financial crisis in Nigeria, which maintained that its platform is market dependent and not positioned to be a representation of the currency pricing in Nigeria.
Binance regulated the selling price of Tether USDT tokens on its Peer-to-Peer (P2P) platform by fixing a 1,802 naira per USDT cap which hindered traders from selling USDT above this limit. Contradicting to the local crypto community speculations, Binance clarified that this price cap was an outcome of an automatic system halt.
Nigeria currently dominates as the world's largest P2P market following the Central Bank of Nigeria's prohibition on institutions from carrying out crypto transactions in 2021. Nevertheless, a circular forwarded to banks in December 2023 put an end to the crypto ban, enabling Nigerian banks to facilitate cryptocurrency deals.
Refer: Asia Express Magazine: An HK gaming company is set to acquire $100M crypto for treasury, while China and UAE are discussing a CBDC deal.
Published At
2/22/2024 12:11:26 PM
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