- Binance CEO stated on his Twitter account to say that “Binance Nigeria Limited is a scam.
- This is coming a few weeks after The Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria declared that Binance Nigeria is operating illegally in Nigeria.
- Binance is a leading cryptocurrency platform in the world individuals use to trade cryptocurrencies.
The Chief Executive Officer of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, issued a statement on Twitter on Sunday, June 18, declaring “Binance Nigeria Limited” a scam entity.
The brief statement, seen by Nairametrics, said, “Binance has issued cease & desist notice to the scammer entity “Binance Nigeria Limited”. Don’t believe everything you read in the news.”
Binance have issued cease & desist notice to the scammer entity "Binance Nigeria Limited".
Don't believe everything you read in the news. 🤷♂️
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) June 18, 2023
Earlier this month, Nairametrics reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria had stated that Binance Nigeria, a subsidiary of global cryptocurrency exchange Binance, is operating illegally in Nigeria as it is not registered or regulated by the SEC.
Who is behind “Binance Nigeria Limited”?
Checks by Nairametrics on Corporate Affairs Limited (CAC) website reveals that the entity “Binance Nigeria Limited” was registered on December 9th 2019 with CAC number “1639782” and a physical address somewhere in MABUSHI DISTRICT”.
In addition, a search through Google reveals that the said address is the office address of “Gitto Costruzioni Generali Nigeria Ltd” – which happens to be a construction company but a search on the CAC website reveals that “No matching record was found for the search term: Gitto Costruzioni Generali Nigeria Ltd”
It is also important to note that the company search on the CAC website reveals that there is another entity called “Binance Holdings Limited” which has the same registration details as “Binance Nigeria Limited”.
However, “Binance Holdings Limited” has no registration number and no registration date and there is no social media handle for the entity “Binance Nigeria Limited” on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Binance Africa
The only recognised arm of Binance within the African continent is “Binance Africa” which has verified social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram with the blue tick and an account which hasn’t been verified on Facebook but has 45k followers.
Binance Africa has a community through which they spread the message of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. More of their updates can be accessed on their blog.
What Changpeng Zhao is saying in his tweet is that while Binance does have a presence in Africa via Binance Africa, the entity “Binance Nigeria Limited” is not recognised by the company.
More on Binance
Binance is the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider with a financial product suite that includes the largest digital asset exchange.
It was founded in July 2017 by Chinese-born Canadian businessman Changpeng Zhao who is the CEO of the company.
The cryptocurrency exchange has 140 million users globally with 350+ cryptocurrencies listed on the exchange with a daily trading volume of $38 billion.
According to Reuters, Binance says it does not have a headquarters and has declined to state the location of its main Binance.com exchange.