If you are conversant with Twitter social media, you should have seen Binance cryptocurrency exchange trending since yesterday, accused of scamming Nigerians.
Reports on social media are claiming that Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, is reportedly blocking the accounts of its African users, particularly Nigerians and those that are active in its Peer-to-Peer (P2P) exchange.
Many Nigerians have taken to Twitter to alleged that the exchange blocked their accounts without any explanation given to them.
A user called Ama Judy lamented that her account has been blocked for 10 months without any justifiable reasons or notification.
TXmny case was different, as he claimed his account was blocked for receiving bnb from a regular wallet. “I wasn’t given a tangible reason all they said was they need to investigate the coin and I have to wait for a month before I can get any solution.”
One user, Adeosun Yemson Yemmy stated that he has been having issues with the platform as far back as 2020. He said, “Sometime in December 2020, I bought some coins from a guy on WhatsApp. 24 hours later, my account was frozen. I chatted with support and I was told to provide proof on how I got a certain amount of funds into my wallet. I provided the proofs and my wallet was released. However, in February 2021, the wallet was frozen again. And up till now, they haven’t released the wallet.”
When was asked the response the Binance support team gave to him since he has been trying to retrieve his account, he said, “They kept saying that it’s not within their power to disclose to me what happened. They referred me to a police officer in Las Vegas.”
Adeosun explained that he contacted the police officer in Las Vegas and still was told that his wallet received stolen coins.
Mickey Claimed his account has been frozen “for about 4 months now with over $500k, mostly comprises of alts coins. Is it a crime to be an African?”
Binance Responses
We reached out to Binance and was refered to a Google form. On their page it stated that “Dear Nigeria Binancians. It has been brought to our attention that some Binance users’ accounts have been restricted. Please be rest assured the Binance team is working on it. User security remains our top priority.”
In the tweet, the exchange attached a google form for those still experiencing issues with accessing their accounts. The tweet further read, “We will further investigate and provide solutions swiftly. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.”
Many Nigerians, due to the ban on cryptocurrencies by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), have been forced to participate in the market through P2P exchanges, and telegram groups where buyers and sellers alike come together to exchange tokens for cash. These methods although an alternative is still relatively flawed as there is a high crime rate as it largely depends on trust.
Let us know your experience so far using Binance Exchange in the comment below.
They really need to investigate this people having massive money in there how can someone have $500k worth of coins were did he/she got that from?
So long you are in the crypto sphere, it is easy to bag that amount of money.