Binance Uganda Will Discontinue All Trading Starting November 11

Binance Uganda is reportedly shutting down and will discontinue all trading starting November 11 as the reports show so let’s find out more in the latest Binance news.

Binance Uganda will not allow traders to trade after November 11. The exchange accepts Ugandan shillings making the local exchange redundant but CEO of the exchange Changpeng Zhao called Uganda a “loss center.” The exchange’s early foray into the African market decided to close all trading services on November 11 after stopping deposits last week. Binance had earlier announced the closing down of Binance Jersey.

The exchange which opened in Uganda in 2018, represented the efforts of the platform to capitalize on the crypto interest in a country where a lot of people are relying on cross-border remittances but are unable to get bank accounts. The world’s biggest exchange used it as a start point to reach citizens across Africa. Ugandan users of the exchange were asked to switch to Binance.com which accepts deposits in Ugandan shillings via Mobile Money, debit cards, credit cards, and bank transfers. According to Zhao, the consolidation of its Uganda and Jersey exchanges was a business decision as fiat deposits for the shillings were added to the global exchange along with bank transfers:

 “All the features that Binance Uganda provides [are] now covered by Binance.com together with our fiat channel partners. There’s a very minimal number of users on there, so it doesn’t make sense for us to maintain two platforms.”

Binance is sticking with other local exchanges like Binance Singapore and it even recently announced Binance Turkey. For those that are looking for a motive, the exchange used its US affiliate to evade regulations but Zhao was quick to assert otherwise:

 “Some people misinterpreted that as maybe we got into trouble with the regulator locally or something. And that’s not the case. We do have good relationships with regulators in both areas that we have an exchange winding down. It’s just a business decision.”

Zhao referred to the Ugandan platform as an independent exchange but this seems to be from an operational standpoint only rather than the structural one. For example, after the 2019 security breach which resulted in $40 million in losses, the Ugandan exchange told users their funds safe. Moreover, they further asserted its independence in September which caused a small stir after delisting the Binance Coin, claiming it didn’t meet its trading standard.