Binance Blocked From Nigeria in Crypto Trading Crackdown

Many Nigerians had turned to crypto currencies as an alternative to big swings in the country's official currency.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has blocked access to crypto trading platforms including Binance to curb currency speculation that has pressured the local currency, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. A Binance spokesperson said some of its users are “experiencing issues accessing” its website. The government’s telecom authority also directed telecom providers to restrict access to Coinbase and Kraken, according to the Financial Times.

The news represents a temporary blow to Binance and other multinational exchanges, which handle an estimated $2 billion in monthly cryptocurrency trading activity in Nigeria, according to data from Chainalysis. The U.S. has already severely restricted the activities of Binance and its U.S. affiliate.

The government’s decision comes less than six months after the country reversed a ban on crypto-related transactions. Nigeria is struggling to increase confidence in its local currency, the naira. As inflation surged and the naira declined over 200% over the last year, digitally savvy Nigerians have resorted to stablecoins such as Tether’s USDT to complete international payments and hedge against further slides in the currency.

A coalition of domestic crypto platform providers accused Binance of worsening the currency crisis because its “platform does not require merchants to possess the [local currency] they offer to sell on the platform” which leads to more “speculative trading that inflates trade volumes at these rates,” the coalition wrote in a document seen by The Information. Binance pushed back against these claims, saying in a statement that it has “stringent measures” in place to protect the integrity of the market.