- The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) declared that the operations of the crypto exchange Binance are illegal in Nigeria.
- The commission stated that it is reiterating a warning from June 9 that mentioned a company called Binance Nigeria Ltd.
- The Nigerian SEC ordered all crypto platform providers to stop reaching Nigerian investors.
The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission reiterated its previous notice to Binance exchange and demanded the cessation of its operations.
Nigerian Regulator Declares Binance as Illegal
The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission issued a statement declaring that the operations of the crypto exchange Binance are illegal in Nigeria and ordered all crypto platform providers to halt marketing to Nigerian citizens.
The commission stated that it is reiterating a warning from June 9 that mentioned a company called Binance Nigeria Ltd. At that time, Binance had informed COINOTAG that it had no affiliation with the mentioned company. However, in the recently released statement, the SEC specifically referred to the crypto exchange’s website. The Nigerian regulator stated:
“The Commission reiterates its stance that Binance, the entity that solicits and facilitates trading in securities by its Nigerian clients, as well as its other platforms, are neither registered nor regulated by the Commission, and as such, operate illegally in Nigeria.”
The regulator ordered all platform providers related to cryptocurrencies to cease reaching Nigerian investors. The commission stated that it considered cryptocurrencies as securities last year.
The country had been in the process of temporarily registering crypto exchanges, but it would not complete the registration process until an agreement was reached with the central bank, which prevented local financial institutions from interacting with crypto service providers.
Nigerian Regulator’s Warning to the Public
The commission also warned the public to be cautious when investing in cryptocurrencies and other products offered by “entities that are neither registered nor regulated by the Commission,” and the statement included the following:
“With this notice, all such platform providers that are marketing to Nigerian investors in any kind of manner are immediately directed to cease such marketing activities.”
