After Binance, FG moves to track other crypto sites to delist naira from P2P platforms

The Nigerian government plans to track and delist the naira feature from all Peer-to-Peer crypto platforms to reduce the manipulation of the local currency in the foreign exchange market.

The Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Emomotimi Agama, disclosed this during an interactive session with the Nigerian Blockchain Industry.

He said the move is expected to be part of guidelines that will be rolled out in the coming days as Nigeria tightens regulation on the crypto industry.

At the meeting, he reassured the blockchain ecosystem stakeholders that the Commission was ready to work with everyone in the space, noting that the SEC is updating its guidelines to ensure best practices.

He decried how market players manipulated the value of the naira and explained that this is why the Commission is seeking collaboration to ensure that the ecosystem is respected globally.

The SEC boss highlighted that the Commission is working to ensure that institutions and people who need to be onboarded do so quickly and without bottlenecks.

Reports say the move comes after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed financial technology firms to stop new account openings and warn customers against crypto transactions on their platforms.

Some fintechs, including Opay, Palmpay, Kuda, Moniepoint, and Paga, sent messages to customers that they would close accounts found engaging in crypto or other virtual assets transactions and send their details to the regulatory authorities.

According to the fintechs, they were not licensed to trade on cryptocurrencies to facilitate P2P transactions.

The Guardian reports that the new move by the SEC may affect about $50 billion trapped in various crypto accounts and wallets.