Binance Restricted More Than 200 Nigerian Accounts: Report

Binance restricted more than 200 Nigerian accounts amid money laundering concerns as we are reading more today in our latest Binance news.

Crypto exchange Binance restricted a total of 281 personal accounts that belong to Nigerian users as the company seeks to satisfy international money laundering standards. The CEO of the exchange Chanpeng Zhao told the customers in a letter that the decision was made to ensure user safety but also at the request of international law enforcement authorities:

“Currently, we have resolved 79 cases and continue to work through others. All non-law enforcement-related cases will be resolved within two weeks.”

The news came amid an array of regulatory woes for the exchange. Earlier this month, Binance’s regulatory shortcomings came to a head and according to an investigation conducted by Reuters, CZ ignored the warnings about the exchange’s weak know your customer policies which are created to be the first line of defense against illicit activities. Back in 2019, a message sent by former Global Money Laundering REporting Officer Karen Long said that CZ didn’t any KYC policies. The Binance chief Compliance officer Samuel Lim wrote:

 “Damn why touch fiat if dont wanna be compliant. So ironic LOL. Just say full crypto man. Jizzus.”

The Reuters investigation found that binance didn’t help the German law enforcement regarding 44 letters about $2.2 million worth of transactions that were likely stolen and laundered. The exchange also raised the ire of regulators across the world. In Japan and Holland, the regulators issued customer warnings against the exchange, and the Cayman Islands and Italy both said that Binance is not licensed to do business in their countries. In Malaysia, regulators took enforcement action against Binance for operating in the jurisdiction illegally. In Singapore, the exchange withdrew its application for a license after the regulators placed the company on the Alert List of the country’s investors list.

The UK Regulators also issued a consumer warning against the exchange and doubled down a few months later claiming that the UK branch of Binance was incapable of being regulated after failing to provide basic information to the regulator.

As recently reported, The world’s leading crypto exchange Binance plans to open an office in Russia into expanding the service to the country and other neighboring countries. The company believes there is a lot of prospects for new regulations in the area that can boost the business.