Nigerian regulator shuts door on Binance’s operations in the country, ushers bloodbath in crypto
|- Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Binance is not regulated in the country.
- The regulator instructed the exchange to stop soliciting local investors in a recent statement.
- The SEC’s statement said that Binance was not registered, therefore its operations are illegal.
Binance and Binance US are currently facing regulatory action from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC’s crackdown on the two exchanges resulted in crumbling selling pressure on Bitcoin, Ethereum and several other altcoins.
The overall crypto market capitalization declined by 5.5% over the past 24 hours, signaling a wipe out of trader’s gains from the past week. The Nigerian SEC’s statement added to the crippling situation of Binance as the country shut its doors to the exchange and labeled its operation as illegal.
Also read: Bitcoin hodlers accumulate $960.4 million in BTC a month during the crypto bloodbath
Nigeria’s SEC labels Binance’s operations in the country illegal
According to a Reuters report, Nigeria’s market regulator ordered Binance to halt its operations and labeled the exchange as illegal. In a statement dated June 9, the Nigerian SEC said that the local Binance unit that courted Nigerian investors through a website was illegal.
The SEC directed Binance Nigeria Limited to immediately stop soliciting investors in any form whatsoever. According to the regulator, the exchange is neither registered or regulated. This makes its operations in the country illegal.
The exchange is facing intense scrutiny and litigation from the US SEC for the alleged sale of unregistered securities. Binance suffered mass withdrawals and capital outflow from its exchange platform after the regulator’s allegations.
Nigeria published regulations for cryptocurrencies in 2022
The Nigerian SEC has published a set of regulators for digital assets in 2022. Instead of an outright ban on cryptocurrencies, the regulator specified a set of rules and defined the unregulated use of digital assets.
Banks and financial institutions in Nigeria were instructed to refrain from facilitating digital currency transactions in 2021, on orders from the central bank.
The global regulatory crackdown on crypto has resulted in mass capital outflow, a decline of 5.5% in the market capitalization overnight.
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