One of the highlights of crypto news this week is the lawsuits against crypto firm Binance. The news caused a wave of consequences that could significantly affect the company’s performance.
Binance, suspended by the financial markets regulator
Binance is now prohibited from conducting its crypto business in Nigeria. The state, one of the most committed on the continent on the issue of cryptos, announced its decision on Friday, June 9. Information comes from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria (SEC, Nigeria), the country’s financial markets regulator.
According to the public body, the Nigerian branch of Binance is not in good standing with the law. This irregularity thus deprives it of the right to provide its exchange services and to sell securities to the general public.
“Binance Nigeria Limited is not registered or regulated by the Commission and therefore its operations in Nigeria are illegal”, the SEC Nigeria says in the notice. A paradoxical argument, especially since the registration of platforms is not an officially mandatory requirement in the country.
The procedure is still experimental there and its operationalization totally dependent on an agreement with the Nigerian Central Bank. This being so, we can therefore consider that the measure is particularly severe against Binance. Especially since until now, the authorities considered crypto assets as securities, without banning them.
This is the first time that such a provision has been made against a crypto company in Nigeria. Moreover, against one of the largest in the overall crypto industry by market capitalization.
Could this decision be related to the recent lawsuits launched against Binance by the SEC? The notice does not seem to state this formally. However, the combination of circumstances in which it occurs may suggest such a causal relationship.
Because BNB, Binance’s native crypto, is now considered by the SEC to be a security. The question that this development may raise is what would be the fate of Nigerian BNB holders.
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