The news:
Binance has announced that it now accepts naira deposits and withdrawals from Nigerian traders.
Why it matters:
The announcement says that Nigerian traders can now easily trade on the blockchain platform, using their local currency from their Binance wallets.
According to Binance, the decision to add the local currency as a fiat gateway is in line with its plan to increase and accelerate the cryptocurrency adoption rate in the country. This would ease the burden of trading encountered by merchants and investors.
“Binance is pleased to announce that it has added a fiat gateway for Nigerian Naira (NGN) as part of Binance’s mission to increase the adoption and mainstream accessibility of crypto. Users are now able to deposit and withdraw NGN to and from their Binance wallets,” the company said.
Binance also added that access to the platform would comply with the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirement, to avoid cases of fraud while using the fiat gateway.
Why Nigeria and The Naira?
Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, has a reputation for having one of the highest rates of cryptocurrency adoption worldwide. In actuality, more than a third of all crypto owners in Africa reside in Nigeria.
Likewise, 53 million people in Africa possess digital currencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), making up more than 16.5% of the over 320 million crypto owners worldwide.
Despite the ban by the Central Bank of Nigeria on cryptocurrency trading, Nigeria has the most of these digital asset owners with more than 22 million people serving as proprietors of digital currencies. Also, Nigeria is rated fourth in the world according to Triple A’s rating of bitcoin owners.
Despite the economic collapse of the naira against the dollar, Binance’s selection of the naira will help deepen the fiat currency and also aid in easy trading.
The value of the naira will also gain relative momentum, after the temporary halt of deposits and withdrawals on Binance in February 2021, with directives from the CBN.
