Following claims made against Binance by its Nigerian users, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Binance’s CEO and Asia’s richest man, has sent a statement to its Nigerian users titled “Our dedication to User Protection.”
The letter from CZ comes after the Binance Africa team, led by Emmanuel Babalola, the exchange’s African director, Damilola Odufuwa, the exchange’s PR lead, and Ben Nsikan, the community manager for Binance Africa, hosted an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on YouTube, where the team set out to address various issues raised around social media, particularly about the world’s global exchange, locking accounts of its African users, particularly its NEO users.
“User security remains our top focus,” CZ wrote in his letter. We care for and adore our Nigerian community, but we also need to keep our users safe. As a result, safeguards like as Know Your Customer (KYC), anti-money laundering procedures, engagement with law enforcement, and account limits are in place to keep our community safe and prevent fraudulent behavior. This is a global strategy that is being implemented in every country.”
Recall that numerous users of the Binance global exchange complained on social media on Wednesday, accusing the exchange of suspending accounts for weeks or months without providing any feedback or explanation.
On Wednesday, it was the third most popular topic on Twitter, with over 25,000 tweets. It was also in the top five on Thursday, with over 10,000 tweets using the hashtag #BinanceStopScamming.
During the AMA session, Emmanuel Babalola, the exchange’s African director, stated that roughly 200 people filled out the exchange’s social media forms. According to him, 30% of the allegedly closed accounts were tied to stolen cryptocurrencies and were cases with law enforcement agencies, while 70% were standard KYC requirements concerns.
In the letter, CZ provided an update on the cases, indicating that these personal account limitations have affected 281 Nigerian accounts, with around 38% of these cases prohibited at the request of foreign law enforcement.
CZ also disclosed that 79 cases have been handled, and that he will “work through the rest.” He also claimed that any issues that are not related to law enforcement will be settled within two weeks.
In addition to the letter, CZ also tweeted, “Not perfect, but transparent.” Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience. And thank you for your patience and support!”
Due to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) ban on cryptocurrencies, many Nigerians have been compelled to participate in the market through P2P exchanges, telegram groups, and WhatsApp groups, where buyers and sellers meet to swap tokens for cash. Although these approaches are an alternative, they are nonetheless faulty because they rely heavily on trust and have a high crime rate.
This has been a prevalent trend among customers having troubles with the exchange since they have in some way purchased coins from the exchange and attempted to trade them on the exchange.
