The news:
- Nigeria's Securities Exchange Commission, (SEC) has declared global crypto exchange, Binance, illegal in the country.
- It confirmed that its secular from June 9, 2023, referring to Binance Nigeria Limited, was directed at binance.com.
- The commission has also warned other crypto investment platforms from soliciting Nigerian investors.
On June 9, 2023, the SEC declared Binance Nigeria Limited illegal in Nigeria. Binance, however, told Techpoint Africa that is it not affiliated with the entity, "Binance Nigeria Limited."
On Friday, July 28, 2023, the SEC clarified that it was referring to Binance by including its website, binance.com.
The circular read, "The Commission again reiterates that the activities of Binance, https://www.binance.com and any such other platform through which the Company solicits investors are neither registered nor regulated by the Commission and its operations in Nigeria are therefore illegal."
SEC does not trust crypto
The SEC also warned the public against investing in crypto assets saying they "have a high level of risk and may result in total loss of investments."
It also discouraged investing with or in crypto platforms not registered or regulated by the SEC. It has issued a warning to unregistered platforms against soliciting Nigerian investors.
Regulations on crypto in Nigeria so far
On Friday, May 13, 2022, the SEC issued rules and guidelines for all crypto and digital asset service providers in the country.
The SEC highlighted new licence requirements for platforms that deal with digital assets, categorisation of the platforms, and guidelines for their operations.
Registering a crypto exchange in Nigeria requires a minimum paid-up capital of $1.2 million, a $72,000 registration fee, a $722 processing fee and a $240 application fee.
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The SEC's declaration of Binance as illegal hints at an attempt to get the crypto exchange and many others to get registered in the country and follow its guidelines for regulating crypto exchanges.
While Binance has been granted permission and registration to operate in several countries, South Africa is the only African country where it has officially gotten permission to operate.
