Following allegations levied against the world’s cryptocurrency wallet Binance by its Nigerian users, Binance CEO and Asia’s richest man, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), has written a letter, responding to those issues, captioned,
“Our commitment to User Protection.”
The letter from the CEO comes after the world’s largest crypto wallet’s Africa team, championed by Emmanuel Babalola, the African director of the exchange, Damilola Odufuwa, the PR lead for Binance Africa and Ben Nsikan, the community manager for Binance Africa, conducted a ‘Ask Me Anything’ (AMA) session on YouTube, where the team was prepared to harness different problems that have been trending on social media, especially about the world’s global exchange, locking accounts of its African users, precisely its Nigerian users.
In CZ’s letter, he stated,
“User security remains our top priority. We love and are devoted to our Nigerian community, but we must ensure that our users are safe. As such, protection mechanisms such as KYC, anti-money laundering measures, collaboration with law enforcement, and account restrictions are in place to ensure our community remains protected and that fraudulent activity is prevented. This is a global approach applied in every country.”
See The Letter On His Twiiter Account
Binance CEO @cz_binance pens a letter to Nigerian Binancians as he highlights the company’s dedication to the community and its next steps.
Read it here – https://t.co/KexwRTIKdl
— Binance Africa (@BinanceAfrica) January 29, 2022
Recall that on Wednesday, there were bitter complaints on social media by multiple users of the Binance global exchange, accusing the exchange of blocking accounts for weeks and months without any feedback or reason given by the exchange
Emmanuel Babalola, the African director of the exchange, in the AMA session, explained that approximately 200 people filled out the forms the exchange put out on social media. He stated that 30% of the alleged blocked accounts were related to stolen cryptocurrencies and were cases with law enforcement agencies, while 70% were general issues related to KYC requirements.
What you should know
In the letter, CZ provided an update on the issues saying that 281 Nigerian accounts have been part of these accounts restricted with close to 38% of these issues restricted at the rdemand of international law enforcement. The CEO also disclosed that 79 issues have been addressed and will, “continue to work through others.” The Binance Boss also announced that all non-law enforcement-related issues will be addressed within a couple of weeks. In addition to the letter, CZ also went ahead to tweet, “Not perfect, but transparent. Apologies of the inconvenience. And thank you for your support and understanding!”
See His Twitter Post
Not perfect, but transparent. Apologies of the inconvenience. And thank you for your support and understanding! 🙏🙏🙏 https://t.co/aQChY1RPLJ
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) January 29, 2022
In Summary
Many Nigerians, due to the ban on cryptocurrencies by the apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), have been forced to participate in the market through P2P exchanges, telegram groups and WhatsApp 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.
This has been a major trend with the users experiencing issues with the exchange as they have bought coins off the exchange in one shape or form and tried trading them on the exchange.
