Regulatory pressure! Cryptocurrency exchange OKX exits Nigeria, requires withdrawals before August 16

This site (120bTC.coM): The latest announcement from the cryptocurrency exchange OKX states that the company has announced its withdrawal from the Nigerian market. Local users must close all positions and withdraw all crypto assets before August 16. At the same time, an executive of another exchange Binance has been detained by the local government for more than four months, and the prison environment has made his health worse.

OKX exits Nigeria, funds must be withdrawn before August 16th

OKX revealed in an email sent to its Nigerian users yesterday (17) that it will withdraw from the Nigerian market and stop all functions and services for Nigerian users.

OKX described the reason for withdrawal as "recent changes in local regulations" and assured that their funds are still safe and able to be withdrawn: users are currently no longer able to open new positions or use any features on the platform, only withdrawals Or close existing positions. All services will be closed on August 16, 2024.

The sudden change caused concern among some local users and they expressed their dissatisfaction on X.

In May this year, OKX suspended withdrawals of the country’s fiat currency Naira (NGN) due to regulatory issues. Previously, the exchange Binance had just announced its withdrawal from Nigeria’s fiat currency services in March due to accusations of manipulation of fiat currencies by the Nigerian authorities.

Nigeria is vigorously cracking down on cryptocurrency exchanges

Recently, the Nigerian government and regulatory authorities have continued to carry out regulatory crackdowns on crypto companies, including blocking the websites of large cryptocurrency exchanges and requiring crypto companies to re-open within 30 days under the new system. Register as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP).

Among them, the most high-profile incident is still the detention of Binance executives Nadeem Anjarwalla and Tigran Gambaryan by the authorities, which has lasted for more than four months since the end of February.

It is reported that Binance has been accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the country’s Central Bank (CBN). The details are as follows:

• Conducting legal currency exchange and P2P market business without regulatory approval

• Failed to pay value-added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax in accordance with the law, and assisted customers in tax evasion

• Suspected of manipulating the local legal currency exchange rate

• Participating in money laundering

A few weeks ago, another cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin also reported to Its Nigerian users issued a notice that they will start charging local users a 7.5% transaction value-added tax (VAT), and also attributed the reason to the update of the local regulatory system.

In response, the Nigerian authorities claimed that the above-mentioned enforcement actions are necessary measures to ensure compliance in new start-up industries.

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