The Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has called on the Federal Government to take measures to prohibit the operations of Binance, a global online cryptocurrency exchange, within the country.
ABCON’s stance is grounded in their identification of Binance as a significant contributor to the mounting pressure on the Nigerian naira.
ABCON President, Alhaji Aminu Gwadebe, expressed this viewpoint during an interview in Lagos, highlighting that Binance trading is increasingly exerting influence over both the Investor and Exporters window and the parallel market.
Gwadebe underlined that Binance has emerged as the most liquid market, boasting an impressive transaction rate of 1.2 million transactions per second.
“If you know about Binance, you will know that Binance trading is becoming the anchorage of both the investors and exporters window and the parallel market, which is unfortunate.
“So, we have to do something that can stop Binance. It’s a competition; we need to ban Binance and the only way to do so is if you have liquidity.
ALSO READ: Man Who Boasted About Sending Yar’Adua To Grave Shouldn’t Be Trusted – Shehu Sani
“As I speak, Binance is the most liquid market; they do 1.2 million transactions per second. So it’s a very liquid market but that is not a scary status, we can break it through our local content and peculiarities.”
Gwadebe emphasized the need for action to counter Binance’s growing presence. He stated, “We have to do something that can stop Binance. It’s a competition; we need to ban Binance, and the only way to do so is if you have liquidity.” Despite Binance’s high liquidity, he believes that Nigeria can challenge its dominance through leveraging local content and specific market dynamics.
The president of ABCON noted a shift from optimism to pessimism in the current foreign exchange market situation. He emphasized that when pessimism prevails, it can lead to a loss of citizen confidence, which holds pivotal significance for the stability of any nation’s currency.
He said, “So we are seeing a scenario where optimism is giving way to pessimism; investors are not coming, Nigerians don’t have confidence in the market and we have to look for external finances that are coming in as a quick fix.
“There is a lot of pressure on the naira, from foreign exchange hoarding by the banks and oil companies.
”Is it Nigerians that want to pay school fees, round-tripping, speculations, among others. All these galvanised to put pressure on the naira.
“Spike and volatility did not start now, it’s something the present government inherited and has gone a long way in checkmating illegal behaviours around foreign exchange market and that is the objective of the unification.’’
