According to a Friday directive from the regional Securities and Exchange Commission, Binance’s Nigerian branch has been told to stop all operations immediately.The notice stated that Binance Nigeria Limited’s operations in Nigeria were unlawful since it was neither registered with nor subject to regulation by the Commission.Nigeria’s order comes after a complaint filed last Monday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by market capitalization. SEC said the exchange had failed to register as a broker or exchange and had marketed and sold unregistered securities to the general public.
This appears to be the first action taken by the regulator against a significant exchange platform, despite the SEC of Nigeria having previously said that it considered all crypto assets to be securities by default.Bloomberg reported in May that the nation’s SEC was handling registration applications from crypto companies on a trial basis but would not begin doing so formally until it had secured an agreement with the nation’s central bank.It is against the law for banks in the nation to provide services to cryptocurrency platforms.
The Commission shall engage with other regulators in Nigeria to provide more guidance on this topic and shall provide updates on any additional regulatory actions with respect to the operations of Binance Nigeria Limited and any comparable platforms, according to Friday’s ruling.