•CBN Governor Cardoso
Nigerians have continued to react differently following the announcement by Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency trading platform, to exit the Nigerian market.
Binance had announced yesterday to discontinue the Naira-associated services on its platform effective from March 8 amidst regulations from the Nigerian apex bank, reports Nigerian Tribune.
“Users are encouraged to withdraw NGN, trade their NGN assets or convert NGN into crypto prior to the discontinuation of these NGN services,” Binance said.
In a swift reaction to the announcement, an X-account identified as Kayode Ogundamisi, described the exit of Binance as an opportunity for some Nigerians to start a similar crypto platform.
“Bye! bye! @Binance, an opportunity for @adamugarba and others to start #Ninance,” Ogundamisi opined.
Another user with the X-account @alephile described the platform’s exit as a sign of frustration despite profit on one of its exchange platforms.
He said, “Binance probably used to make like $100 per day in revenue from that p2p. They were just like “werey, carry your wahala and go. Fi mi le.” 😭😭”
For MS Ingawa, another X-user, the exit is a bad thing for those investing on the platform and expecting dollars to rise. He said, “Just-In: Binance to depart Nigerian market, ends services in local currency.
“Sell your dollar today ooh. That profit you are waiting for, you no go get am😹😹”
But in a sharp contrast, another user with the handle: @knightofdelta, believed that the exit of Binance from the Nigerian market will change nothing.
“Binance has shut down all NGN platforms. Unfortunately, it does not change anything in the larger scheme of things. If you look at historical trend, that vacuum is going to be filled by something bigger and nastier. And more difficult to shut down,” he tweeted.
For Kelvin Odanz, Nigeria fell off as the African giant in 2015, adding that Binance’s refusal to bow to the Nigerian government’s demands is just an affirmation of the country’s current situation.
“Remember someone telling me last week that Nigeria is too important a market for Binance that they cannot afford to exit it. So they will have to meet some of Nigerian govt demands. I just shook my head. We like to overrate ourselves.. Nigeria fell off since 2015. Former giants,” Odanz tweeted.
According to a former lawmaker, Shehu Sani, with the Binance exiting Nigeria, “Cardoso has cordon off Awoof market.”
