Nigeria SEC tag binance operations illegal

[Agbe]

Binance has been operating in Nigeria for years so I don't believe this illegal story from SEC. There is something they are not telling us. If Binance is operating illegal why are they asking KYC in the process of registration? They would have bypass the KYC and continue the trading but they are doing all the procedures from the government part of the agreement. This made me to do some researches. And I found this.
Nigeria, Binance in early-stage talks for crypto-friendly economic zone so with this good tok how come SEC is saying dat Binance is operating illegal when Binance has discussed with them before kicked starting everything. This is an another blogger https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/09/12/fg-to-create-crypto-friendly-free-zone-with-binance with the same info.

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[sokani]

BREAKING: BINANCE CEO, CZ dissociates himself from Binance Nigeria Limited, calls it a scam.
Source: https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1670369403223900160?t=GQvLE-E-liiyesaaHuFFQQ&s=09

[inthelongrun]

This is no different in my country. Our leaders know and understand how powerful crypto, blockchains, and their platforms can offer especially in the future. Binance is a company that is very tolerant and actually wants to work with governments in order to obtain proper documents and get regulated according to each nation's laws. Yet in my very corrupt country, licenses are only limited and were only given to a few companies that are far from the good services and qualities Binance can offer. Maybe our corrupt leaders are not given the bribe they wanted in order for Binance to get a license. There are even movements in my country to totally ban and impose a penalty on Binance.

Hopefully, Nigeria changes its tone and does better because Binance's services help a lot, especially on money transfer with zero to very low fees compared to the traditional financial companies.

[Charles-Tim]

Binance has been operating in Nigeria for years so I don't believe this illegal story from SEC. There is something they are not telling us. If Binance is operating illegal why are they asking KYC in the process of registration? They would have bypass the KYC and continue the trading but they are doing all the procedures from the government part of the agreement. This made me to do some researches. And I found this.

Have you been reading what we are discussing on this thread? I am surprised that you did not know the reason Nigeria SEC said Binance is illegal. I distinctly again stated the reason just before your post and added a Twitter link to it:

The reason SEC said Binance is operating illegally in Nigeria is because they thought that Binance has an office in Nigeria. But Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao said the exchange do not have an office in Nigeria and said they have issued cease and desist notice to the scammer entity "Binance Nigeria Limited".

https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1670369403223900160?s=20

It is not only about Binance requesting for KYC that makes them to operate in Nigeria as legal. Recently, Binance even left Canada because of new regulatory law about stable coins.

[Cryptomultiplier]

Clearity on the Binance saga.

I have been seeing various comments and happened to come across this topic, on how the lawsuit against Binance U.S. is affecting operation/service in our region.
The truth is, the SEC in Nigeria investigated Binance NG Ltd and discovered it isn't a subsidiary of the main Binance, but a name registered in hopes that Binance would come to the country.

Here's a snippet of my findings from Mariblock website:

Mariblock consulted the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) of Nigeria’s database to fact-check that the entity “Binance Nigeria Limited” indeed exists.
While a search returned a match, the company, registered in December 2019, is inactive.
Mariblock contacted one of the individuals listed as officers of Binance Nigeria Limited to verify the company’s affiliation with Binance, the global exchange.
He confirmed to Mariblock that Binance Limited Nigeria is unaffiliated with the global exchange, adding that he registered the company for arbitrage purposes.
“The company [Binance Nigeria Limited] is not affiliated to Binance. It was only registered for arbitrage reasons when we thought Binance might want to set up operations in Nigeria. But that did not happen, and as you can see, it [Binance Nigeria Limited] is inactive.”

A Binance spokesperson told Mariblock:
“We are aware of the circular. However, the entity mentioned in the circular [Binance Nigeria Limited] is not affiliated with us. We are therefore seeking clarity from the Nigerian SEC and remain committed to working with them cooperatively on the next steps..."

This is just the SEC warning anyone within this region to be careful about investing in cryptocurrency because of the risks involved, mostly for those who have little knowledge about the subject matter. The SEC isn't against the idea of decentralization, but hopes to help protect the funds and data of its citizenry from hackers, scammers, fake exchanges with questionable operation, by collaborating with other regulators within the country to offer guidance as necessary.

https://www.mariblock.com/nigeria-sec-warns-against-binance/

[CryptSafe]

Clearity on the Binance saga.

I have been seeing various comments and happened to come across this topic, on how the lawsuit against Binance U.S. is affecting operation/service in our region.
The truth is, the SEC in Nigeria investigated Binance NG Ltd and discovered it isn't a subsidiary of the main Binance, but a name registered in hopes that Binance would come to the country.

Here's a snippet of my findings from Mariblock website:

Mariblock consulted the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) of Nigeria’s database to fact-check that the entity “Binance Nigeria Limited” indeed exists.
While a search returned a match, the company, registered in December 2019, is inactive.
Mariblock contacted one of the individuals listed as officers of Binance Nigeria Limited to verify the company’s affiliation with Binance, the global exchange.
He confirmed to Mariblock that Binance Limited Nigeria is unaffiliated with the global exchange, adding that he registered the company for arbitrage purposes.
“The company [Binance Nigeria Limited] is not affiliated to Binance. It was only registered for arbitrage reasons when we thought Binance might want to set up operations in Nigeria. But that did not happen, and as you can see, it [Binance Nigeria Limited] is inactive.”

A Binance spokesperson told Mariblock:
“We are aware of the circular. However, the entity mentioned in the circular [Binance Nigeria Limited] is not affiliated with us. We are therefore seeking clarity from the Nigerian SEC and remain committed to working with them cooperatively on the next steps..."

This is just the SEC warning anyone within this region to be careful about investing in cryptocurrency because of the risks involved, mostly for those who have little knowledge about the subject matter. The SEC isn't against the idea of decentralization, but hopes to help protect the funds and data of its citizenry from hackers, scammers, fake exchanges with questionable operation, by collaborating with other regulators within the country to offer guidance as necessary.

https://www.mariblock.com/nigeria-sec-warns-against-binance/

I had to follow up with this saga too to know what really is happening and now it is obviously clear that the mainstream binance have refuted the claims that they have link or affiliations with binance nigeria limited. This is coming after much investigations by the sec on binance nigeria limited. This organization have been running for a long time now and it seems they have gotten the required publicity they needed but are not what people think they are.

I know they were having the thought that binance would come to Nigeria and when they come, it would happen that the name is already registered and would have no option than working with the already existing one but they forget that this doesn't work that way. Now that the mainstream has come out publicly to deny knowing or having anything to do with them this is an indirect way of tagging them scammers. These are the things that brings Nigeria to being noted for wrong doings. They wanted to act smart while waiting for the mainstream to come collaborate with them if it happens they want to establish an officie here in Nigeria but now the reverse is the case. They have ended up in doing more harm to themselves and organization as binance has included the word "scam" to their public notification and awareness on their official social media handles and this would cause the problems as the Crypto community would cast doubt on their credibility.

[Hyphen(-)]

I had to follow up with this saga too to know what really is happening and now it is obviously clear that the mainstream binance have refuted the claims that they have link or affiliations with binance nigeria limited. This is coming after much investigations by the sec on binance nigeria limited. This organization have been running for a long time now and it seems they have gotten the required publicity they needed but are not what people think they are.

I also followed up the case and find out that Binance have the right to make it publicly that they are not connected or affiliated to the company Binance Nigeria Limited, because they don’t know the exact thing they are doing and therefore they will do all the have to do to protect their exchange.

I know they were having the thought that binance would come to Nigeria and when they come, it would happen that the name is already registered and would have no option than working with the already existing one but they forget that this doesn't work that way. Now that the mainstream has come out publicly to deny knowing or having anything to do with them this is an indirect way of tagging them scammers. These are the things that brings Nigeria to being noted for wrong doings. They wanted to act smart while waiting for the mainstream to come collaborate with them if it happens they want to establish an officie here in Nigeria but now the reverse is the case. They have ended up in doing more harm to themselves and organization as binance has included the word "scam" to their public notification and awareness on their official social media handles and this would cause the problems as the Crypto community would cast doubt on their credibility.

The company wants to act smart to be the people Binance will have to work with since they are claiming their name already, but as it stand now, the company have its owns separate service they are doing which the SEC is warning Nigerians because they know how risky it is to invest in cryptocurrency.

Both the SEC and the Binance will come into conclusion but it will be with full regulation this time because I am having that feelings that Binance exchange will actually be regulated here in Nigeria.

[ololajulo]

I believe the primary concern for traders in our country regarding Binance's presence in our market is the assurance of uninterrupted trading and the security of their current portfolios on the platform. Despite the responses provided so far, I haven't noticed any significant changes that address these concerns. Therefore, I believe it is crucial to disseminate this information widely.

[Kelward]

I see this news as another hypocrisy, it's not today that Binance has been serving Nigerians but our SEC didn't say anything about it specifically until the US is dealing with it and Coinbase. Binance has been so clever this day, I don't believe they have any office in Nigeria, they only have agents. This, of course, is not good for the Nigerian government despite the company making huge amounts from Nigerians, which means the government is losing taxable income.

But for SEC to come out again today is nothing new, it can't be as scary as what CBN and banks did in the past, yet crypto dealings continue in Nigeria. Still, a special warning to those who have big money there, it might be time you distribute your assets to many exchanges. Binance is always in the business of seizing money because of "risk management."

It is within the SEC's authority to control and tax every security and digital asset within the Nigeria jurisdiction, and as Binance Nigeria Limited is operating and has an office here in Nigeria, they must be regulated and taxed accordingly.

How about other international exchanges? Are they registered in Nigeria? I doubt that. Why only Binance. The regulation may come easily and later get tough in a way all exchanges have to follow Nigeria regulatory laws.

Other exchanges do not have offices here in Nigeria except Binance

I understand say binance African de and binance Nigeria, also de, and na binance Nigeria, de get  wahala. So my question be say na which one we Nigerians de use? Abeg di question na for di benefit of new people wey de intend to register for binance exchange.

E de important for our SEC to de regulate financial companies matter, so dem go de guided by government rules and regulations.

[Charles-Tim]

I understand say binance African de and binance Nigeria, also de, and na binance Nigeria, de get  wahala. So my question be say na which one we Nigerians de use? Abeg di question na for di benefit of new people wey de intend to register for binance exchange.

What is most important is to register using the correct URL which is Binance.com. Or to download their app on app store which has millions of downloads and use it to register. It is worth saying people should avoid fake apps on app stores.

E de important for our SEC to de regulate financial companies matter, so dem go de guided by government rules and regulations.

I think also ololajulo and I have the same opinion about this, regulators in Nigeria that should regulate cryptocurrencies do not know their work yet because the crypto exchanges are not not paying tax like banks, but they should be paying tax.

[Kelward]

I understand say binance African de and binance Nigeria, also de, and na binance Nigeria, de get  wahala. So my question be say na which one we Nigerians de use? Abeg di question na for di benefit of new people wey de intend to register for binance exchange.

What is most important is to register using the correct URL which is Binance.com. Or to download their app on app store which has millions of downloads and use it to register. It is worth saying people should avoid fake apps on app stores.

E de important for our SEC to de regulate financial companies matter, so dem go de guided by government rules and regulations.

I think also ololajulo and I have the same opinion about this, regulators in Nigeria that should regulate cryptocurrencies do not know their work yet because the crypto exchanges are not not paying tax like banks, but they should be paying tax.

I appreciate the swift response, my Oga, thanks. Di koko na to register with the authentic binance, com.

[Charles-Tim]

I think this is worth to read to know that SEC is probably moving forward to regulate crypto exchanges in Nigeria as it called Binance operation in Nigeria illegal again, not Binance Nigeria this time, but Binance.com.

https://sec.gov.ng/warning-against-investing-with-binance/
https://nairametrics.com/2023/07/29/sec-again-warns-against-investing-with-binance-says-assets-at-high-levels-of-risk/

In futherance of the Commission’s earlier circular, dated 9 June, 2023, with respect to the website operated by Binance (https://www.binance.com) used for soliciting the Nigerian public to trade crypto assets.

The Commission again reiterates that the activities of Binance, https://www.binance.com and any such other platform through which the Company solicits investors is neither registered nor regulated by the Commission and its operations in Nigeria are therefore illegal. Any member of the investing public dealing with the entity, making such solicitation is doing so at his/her own risk.

By this circular, all platform providers, making such solicitations, are hereby directed to immediately stop soliciting Nigerian investors in any form whatsoever.

The Commission shall provide updates on further regulatory actions with respect to the activities of such operators and related platforms, and shall work with other regulators in Nigeria to provide further guidance on this matter.

[Kavelj22]

In an incident that happened recently with one of my friends, he was accused in a scam case based on his activity as a professional trader on the peer-to-peer Binance platform. The prosecution failed to include my friend’s activity on Binance in the conviction file and was content with the complainant’s statements. When I contacted the defense lawyer, he explained to me that this is not possible without an official document from Binance, and since the platform is not registered in our country, the governor or the prosecutor did not find it appropriate to rely on this attempt to contact Binance, and the information was retrieved from Binance without it being included in the prosecution file.

Confirmation of this incident is that, to date, to my knowledge, no conviction file has been issued for any Binance user based on activity on the platform. This is a personal conclusion, and I may be wrong, so I hope that if any member knows examples that I am sure of, he can provide them for further clarification.

Cheers,

[DaNNy001]

Although binance is an exchange and we all knows that an exchange wallet are not secure for holding Bitcoin, when you want to sell you can make use of the binance app but it is mot advisable to store Bitcoin in exchanges.
The reason is already know to all of us that one day the exchange might crash and people money will lose and there is no one to be hold responsible for such.

[nelson4lov]

In an incident that happened recently with one of my friends, he was accused in a scam case based on his activity as a professional trader on the peer-to-peer Binance platform. The prosecution failed to include my friend’s activity on Binance in the conviction file and was content with the complainant’s statements. When I contacted the defense lawyer, he explained to me that this is not possible without an official document from Binance, and since the platform is not registered in our country, the governor or the prosecutor did not find it appropriate to rely on this attempt to contact Binance, and the information was retrieved from Binance without it being included in the prosecution file.

Confirmation of this incident is that, to date, to my knowledge, no conviction file has been issued for any Binance user based on activity on the platform. This is a personal conclusion, and I may be wrong, so I hope that if any member knows examples that I am sure of, he can provide them for further clarification.

Cheers,

To confirm, your friend is being prosecuted for his P2P activities on Binance but they don't want to get crucial documents about his activities from Binance that would be helpful in the case?

Also, is this the same case where hacked funds related to Flutterwave was laundered on P2P  sites and now, they're prosecuting traders that participated in the other end of those trades? I heard about it a while a go. I didn't know the case was still an active case. For your question, I haven't heard of any user with issued docs on their activity by binance btw.

[Kliss]

Nigeria security and Exchange commission has just tagged the operation of Binance Nigeria exchange as illegal in the country. The countries subsidiary of the global Binance commission was deemed illegal because it has been operating and promoting its services in the country without registration and not under regulations. The SEC warns Nigeria investors of investing or trading on cryptocurrencies on unregulated platforms like Binance. This action by the SEC follows suit after the exchange subsidiary in US was also sued for lack of regulation last week.

Firstly wetin Nigeria SEC dey do no bad, they're protecting the citizens of the country and no matta weda we like am or not they're right with what they just came out to say. Understand say them no dey attack Binance generally but Binance Nigeria just as United States they attack Binance US so. Na follow follow make us do our own now and you no go blame them because na the perfect timing be this for their choppings to come out. Nigeria SEC just want Binance Nigeria to register under them as na so e dey be for this kind business them. Also wetin SEC dun come out talk so, na just warning to Nigerians make e no be like say dem no warn us Incase anything bad was to happen (and I dey suspect say dem believe say US fit run Binance down and e go affect us Nigerian).

All dem dey talk na say anything wey you dey do with Binance Nigeria na at ur own risk, just as them warn us for those ponzi schemes wey we been dey chase around dey through millions so inside. Nigeria SEC wan get their own cut (we know as e dey be) because immediately dem register officially nothing concern Binance Nigeria with SEC again unless dem break rules of the commission then dem go carry EFCC and DSS come pick up who dey head the exchange for Nigeria. All this one fit just be talk talk matter too and nothing go still happen.

SEC tagging the operation of Binance Nigeria is a way of securing the interest of Nigerians investing in crypto (Bitcoin), because it's operations is not officially recognized and documented by the appropriate authority and  
there are certain rules, guidelines, compliance and consumers protection for them to follow. However, Binance Nigeria has been operating in the country for years now if they are not regulated and registered it would have been made known before now so that Nigerians will be cautious. But I align with SEC awareness of the risk involved.

Binance should find a way to sort it out because they are making profit from Nigerians in millions. Why avoid being registered and regulated not only in Nigeria, because every country has the right to protect their citizens investment and tax should be payable back to the  appropriate authorities if you are profiting in business from the country.

[Charles-Tim]

Although binance is an exchange and we all knows that an exchange wallet are not secure for holding Bitcoin, when you want to sell you can make use of the binance app but it is mot advisable to store Bitcoin in exchanges.
The reason is already know to all of us that one day the exchange might crash and people money will lose and there is no one to be hold responsible for such.

It is true that exchanges are not good for holding, but some people are using them for trading. This thread is more about Binance exchange regulation in Nigeria and not about saving coins on a wallet or an exchange. But like I said, if it is about holding, it is better to make use of noncustodial wallet, especially cold wallet for high amount of coins.

Binance should find a way to sort it out because they are making profit from Nigerians in millions. Why avoid being registered and regulated not only in Nigeria, because every country has the right to protect their citizens investment and tax should be payable back to the  appropriate authorities if you are profiting in business from the

Who should we blame the most? The SEC and other necessary regulators are to be blamed. They should make clear policies that will make the exchanges to have no option than to register in Nigeria. This is an example of the problem we are facing in Nigeria and thinking the president will do everything.

[Kavelj22]

In an incident that happened recently with one of my friends, he was accused in a scam case based on his activity as a professional trader on the peer-to-peer Binance platform. The prosecution failed to include my friend’s activity on Binance in the conviction file and was content with the complainant’s statements. When I contacted the defense lawyer, he explained to me that this is not possible without an official document from Binance, and since the platform is not registered in our country, the governor or the prosecutor did not find it appropriate to rely on this attempt to contact Binance, and the information was retrieved from Binance without it being included in the prosecution file.

Confirmation of this incident is that, to date, to my knowledge, no conviction file has been issued for any Binance user based on activity on the platform. This is a personal conclusion, and I may be wrong, so I hope that if any member knows examples that I am sure of, he can provide them for further clarification.

Cheers,

To confirm, your friend is being prosecuted for his P2P activities on Binance but they don't want to get crucial documents about his activities from Binance that would be helpful in the case?
 

My friend's name was mentioned in a fraudulent case in which he was receiving money locally, while the cryptocurrencies reached the owner of the scam scheme, who is not even a citizen of our country. My friend found himself as an intermediary in a scam scheme that victimized a number of people who complained to the authorities. Since the whole process took place on Binance, my friend was forced to show the history of his transactions on Binance to make it clear that he is a trader who buys and sells and because he has no relationship with any of the parties to the case.
The case took a new development because the authorities were unable to obtain confirmed data from Binance, and therefore my friend was charged with  related to taxes imposed on the activity after it was proven that no communication had occurred between the victims and my friend. My friend hasn't even been suspended pending investigation, but he's still on the case about the taxes.