The Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria, ABCON, has blamed peer-to-peer cryptocurrency platforms like Binance for the recent depreciation of the Naira against the Dollar in the foreign exchange market.
Recall that the naira continued its slump against the American dollar for the fifth consecutive day on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, at the official window as the domestic currency traded at N1,308.52/$1.
According to data sourced from the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) window, at the end of trading on Wednesday, the naira lost N8.52 against the dollar when compared to the previous exchange rate of N1,301/$1 on Tuesday, April 23, 2024.
The intra-day high and low recorded during the day were N1,367/$1 and N1,098 /$1 respectively, representing a lean spread of N269\$1.
Similarly, the naira slumped against the dollar at the parallel market for the fifth consecutive day to trade at N1,300/$1 representing a loss of N25 when compared to the N1,275/$1 it traded the previous day.
Similarly, the naira lost against the pound. The domestic currency depreciated by N50 against the British Pound to trade at N1,580\£1 as against the previous trading price of N1,530/£1 representing a loss of N50 for the local currency,
The Canadian dollar however closed flat against the naira to trade at N1,000| CA$1 same as the previous trading day rate of N1,000| CA$1.
The Euro also gained against the naira to trade at ₦1,370/€1 as against the rate of ₦1,320/€1 the previous trading rate indicating a gain of N50 for the European currency.
Meanwhile, speaking reacting to the slump in the naira, the National President of ABCON, Aminu Gwadabe in an interview with NAN on Wednesday said that as long as Binance and other platforms remain profitable, the Naira’s depreciation will persist.
He said that the recent wave of depreciation of the Naira was of concern to the BDC operators.
“I am happy that the authorities, and even the BDCs as operators, have identified the peer-to-peer (P2P) platform.
The P2P is a platform like Binance, where speculators use the Dollar to buy USDT, a stablecoin that is pegged at one to the Dollar.
“As long as Binance and other platforms remain profitable, the Naira will continue to depreciate.
“There are many of them in the system. Binance has been nipped in the bud, but there are still many. They are online platforms with no registration, no restrictions,” he stated.
