Nigerian watchdog issues warning to Binance customers

The Nigerian SEC issued a notice against all the crypto companies & Investors, running & using unregistered crypto exchanges and confirmed that no laws protect Investors on such platforms.

Nigeria is not a good region for the crypto sector, as there are no rules & regulations for this sector. In 2021, the Nigerian central bank issued a banning order against crypto-related every type of activity but they did nothing to prohibit crypto activities across the country. After the Crypto banking ban, the majority of the citizens shifted toward the P2P Crypto trading platforms.

In June of this year, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission Nigeria SEC) issued warnings against the crypto exchanges running in the country. 

In the latest statement, the Nigerian SEC stated that all the crypto-related activities by Binance and similar crypto exchanges are illegal in the country and also the citizens using such platforms are not protected from Investor protection laws. 

“As a continuation of the Commission’s previous circular of June 9, 2023, which was used to request the Nigerian public to trade crypto assets concerning the Binance-operated website (https://ift.tt/3ijRUIq; the official SEC statement read.

According to the SEC body, none of such crypto companies are registered with the agency or other financial regulator, so any person investing in cryptocurrencies via these crypto Exchanges should be aware that they will be responsible for any kind of potential risk they will face.

Furthermore, the country’s securities regulator also stated that cryptocurrencies are highly volatile assets, so investment in such crypto assets is very risky and may result in the loss of the total investment.

The commission urged citizens to keep crypto investment-like activities away, to remain away from potential risks. 

Binance & legal hurdles

It is worth it to note that huge numbers of crypto companies are running their business in the country but still the Nigerian regulatory body targeted the Binance exchange mainly, which is showing that Binance is on the radar of the Nigerian Watchdogs. 

And Binance may be the first to face legal action in Nigeria if the Nigerian SEC will take action just like the American SEC in the US. 

In the present time, Binance American subsidiary BinanceUS is facing lawsuit actions in the US, and the Binance team is trying its best to dismiss the lawsuit, as there are no clear rules in the country.

Read also: Coinbase CEO reveals that SEC ordered the firm to stop all altcoins trading