Nigerians Frustrated With Restrictions from Binance

Many Nigerians complained that their accounts with the exchange were frozen with funds locked up.

Nigerians Wail

There has been a very loud outcry against Binance from Nigerians on Social Media. Using the hashtag #BinanceStopScamming, a large number of Nigerians went on Twitter to express their bitterness about the unfair treatment they claimed to have received from the world’s largest crypto exchange.

In a series of tweets, Nigerians recounted their sad experiences in the hands of Binance. Some users went as far as insinuating that the exchange had a different set of rules for Nigerians. A theme common in almost all the complaints is that Binance locked affected users out of their accounts, and withheld significant amounts of users’ assets.

“It is enough, I am a victim. My account has been frozen for about 4 months now with over $500k, mostly alt coins. Is it a crime to be an African?”, lamented Nigerian Twitter user Brown-Mi on January 26.‍

Another user claimed that she had been locked out of her account for 10 months despite repeated attempts to contact Binance Customer Support. 

Is Nigeria/Africa Peculiar?

Africans, and especially Nigerians, seem to be the only ones with these complaints on a large scale. Is Binance applying a different standard to the region?

Meanwhile, Binance has given a response. The exchange listed reasons why the accounts of complainants may have been restricted. Binance’s response seems to contain a subtle hint that Nigerian law enforcement may have played a role:

“At times, we proactively restrict accounts to protect users’ funds. Other times, we have to restrict accounts at the request of law enforcement. If your account has been restricted at the request of a law enforcement agency we will send you details of who to contact for the next steps”, Binance stated in the tweet.

Binance has requested that Nigerians whose accounts were blocked should fill this form for their complaints to be investigated.

According to the BSCNews 2021 review of  DeFi in Nigeria, trading on Binance helped Nigerians to survive the harsh economic realities of their country. Binance has such a large user-community in Nigeria. No wonder #BinanceStopScamming quickly turned into a movement for a community that felt its survival was being threatened:

“Crypto has been an escape route for several young Nigerians including me, due to the failure of Nigeria to cater for her teeming youths. Binance shouldn’t add to our problems, we already have enough!”, read one tweet. 

Everyone hopes that Binance will take urgent steps to resolve the standoff between it and its Nigerian community.

Source : bsc.news