The United States dollar crashed against the naira at the cryptocurrency peer-to-peer market platform Binance, according to trade information seen by Nairametrics.
As of 8 am on Wednesday, the dollar traded for as high as N1,415/$1 from as low as N1606/$1 within 24 hours. At the time of writing this story, the exchange rate was trading at N1,458/$1.
Some traders also quoted above N1500/$1 as trading ramped up.
Cardoso Statement
At the MPC meeting media briefing held on Tuesday CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, the apex bank governor pointed out the activities of cryptocurrency traders as one they were addressing.
According to him, the central bank was working with other agencies of the government such as the EFCC, the Police, and the office of the NSA to address the issue stating that in due course they will have more information to share.
He also stated that a staggering t $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria in trades related to cryptocurrency transactions.
- “We are concerned that certain practices go on that indicate illicit flows going through a number of these entities and suspicious flows at best. In the case of Binance, in the last one year alone, $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify” Cardoso
Cardoso also stated that they are “determined” to do anything it takes to take charge of their market and not allow others to “manipulate our market in a way that ends up distortionary and sub-optimizes for all Nigerians”, which he said will not be accepted.
- The statement made by the central bank governor appears to have rattled cryptocurrency traders as the naira gained strongly against the US dollar.
- Some cryptocurrency traders have also complained bitterly about the inability to gain access to the website, with outages or downtimes now being recorded frequently.
- However, the website can be reached via their mobile application.
What you should know
Central Bank officials had fingered the Binance Platform as a major tool for speculating against the naira and promised to clamp down on its usage.
- In response, Binance stated that it has taken some actions to adjust trading on its platform by Nigerians to address what it described as an unusual currency movement.
- While many Nigerians have been complaining of facing restrictions with buying and selling USDT on the platform since Tuesday, Binance said its action was “to protect users and prevent any abuse.”
The company also distances itself from the forex debacle in Nigeria saying its platform is “market-driven and not intended to be a proxy for currency pricing in Nigeria.”
