Nigerian watchdog declares “Binance Nigeria” illegal crypto platform

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The Nigerian securities regulatory body issues a warning against Binance Nigeria Limited.

Binance is a top-ranked crypto platform, thanks to its highly secured services. The services of this exchange are available globally but in some jurisdictions, this exchange provides services via subsidiaries. 

Recently the Nigerian SEC issued a notice against Binance Nigeria Limited and said that the exchange is illegal, as the exchange was never registered with any regulatory body and also warned citizens to remain away from any kind of investment on the mentioned platform.

“Binance Nigeria Limited is neither registered nor regulated by the Commission and its operations in Nigeria are therefore illegal. Any member of the investing public dealing with the entity is doing so at his/her own risk,” issued notice read.

In response, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) confirmed that the mentioned exchange was never affiliated with the Binance exchange and that the exchange was unaware of the existence of any kind of such platform.

BinanceUS vs SEC 

At present time, Binance’s American subsidiary BinanceUS is facing legal hurdles in the US. 

Two weeks ago, the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) sued BinanceUS, Binance, & Binance CEO CZ. 

Court documents revealed that the SEC agency was trying to seize all the fiat & crypto funds belonging to BinanceUS but recently in a mutual settlement the SEC body agreed that it will not take any action against BinanceUS’s funds & funds will remain only under the control of the BinanceUS’s team only.

However, the SEC will be further able to take new decisions, after the case resolution. 

Gary Gensler is chairman of the SEC agency & he has been trying to regulate the crypto industry under the existing traditional securities laws for the last couple of years.

For such back-to-back SEC suits against crypto companies this year, Gensler faced huge criticism from the crypto proponents as well as from some US lawmakers. 

Read also: BitGo CEO says Bitcoin was also a “security asset” before 2012