It’s been a tough week for cryptocurrency exchange Binance. On June 9, it was reported that the Nigerian Securities Commission It is considered The exchange is illegal, just days after Binance was sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Binance Nigeria Limited has been directed to immediately cease soliciting Nigerian investors in any manner,” the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said in a statement. Visible By bloomberg.
The regulator also noted that Binance is neither registered nor regulated in the country, making its operations illegal. “Any member of the investing public dealing with the entity does so at their own risk,” the committee said.
The US exchange Binance allegedly put customer funds at risk. Anyone with a clue will do a lot of good for millions of people.
– Ibn Timothy (@ObiUcheUzoije) June 7, 2023
This setback comes just days after Binance was sued by US authorities. The US Securities and Exchange Commission filed 13 counts against Binance on June 5, including charges of unregistered offerings and sales of securities, failure to register as an exchange or broker, and mixing of funds. The company said it had provided all the information required by regulators and was looking forward to “defending ourselves in court”.
Binance is a popular crypto exchange in Nigeria. It is one of the most prominent crypto hubs in the region and the most populous country in Africa. A study by Chainalysis showed that the Middle East and North Africa region is driving cryptocurrency adoption worldwide, with users receiving $566 billion in cryptocurrency between July 2021 and June 2022, a 48% increase over the previous year.
The ban follows recent regulatory developments within the domestic cryptocurrency. On May 28, former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Finance Act into law, imposing a 10% tax on gains from digital assets. The newly elected Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu, recently issued a statement proposing to revise the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulations on digital assets to make them more business-friendly.
The Central Bank of Nigeria does not recognize cryptocurrencies as legal tender, and commercial banks have been banned from handling cryptocurrency transactions in the country since February 2021.
Cointelegraph reached out to Binance, but did not receive an immediate response.
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