The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has urged the Nigerian government to prohibit the operations of Binance because it was exacerbating the strain on the Naira, according to local media outlet The Cable.

ABCON President Alhaji Aminu Gwadebe stated that the exchange was becoming the anchorage point for the country’s official and parallel market for U.S. Dollars. Gwadebe highlighted Binance’s role in exerting more pressure on the currency, saying the exchange was the most liquid market.

“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.”

He added:

“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 we have liquidity.”

Binance did not respond to CryptoSlate’s request for comment as of press time.

In June, the Nigerian Central Bank moved to unify all forex exchange (FX) market segments, ending its strict control of the local currency.

However, the move has not eased up the pressure on Naira, as the currency devalued to more than 900 Naira to $1 on the parallel markets. In comparison, according to the apex bank website data, it traded for around 768 Naira on the official market.

Binance is popular in Nigeria

Binance is one of the most popular crypto platforms in the African country. Through its peer-to-peer services, the exchange could circumvent the 2021 ban imposed by the Nigerian Central Bank on crypto trading activities.

The firm’s dominance in the region was further cemented after FTX collapsed last November. However, the Nigerian authorities have warned citizens that the exchange’s operations were illegal within the country.

According to data on the platform, Binance’s USDT/Naira trading pair was more than $660,000 in the last 24 hours.