On Sunday, June 18, Zhao took to Twitter to make the announcement. On June 9, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a circular stating the illegality of Binance Nigeria Limited in the country.

According to reports, a Binance spokesperson responded that the entity mentioned in the circular is not affiliated with the company. The spokesperson expressed the company’s intention to seek clarity from the Nigerian SEC and reiterated its commitment to cooperating with it on the next steps.

Although Binance claimed no affiliation with Binance Nigeria Limited, as mentioned in the SEC’s circular, the company is concurrently facing a lawsuit from the United States Securities Exchange Commission. The U.S. SEC has filed 13 charges against Binance entities and Zhao.

Some charges include operating as an unregistered exchange, broker-dealer, clearing agency and misrepresenting trading controls. The U.S. SEC stated that despite earning $11.6 billion from U.S. customers, Binance and Zhao failed to register as an exchange, broker-dealer or clearing agency.

In a recent development on June 17, U.S. Judge Amy Berman Jackson approved an agreement between Binance.US, Binance, and the U.S. SEC. This agreement resulted in the dismissal of a previous temporary restraining order that aimed to freeze all Binance.US assets.

Binance, which is available in about 100 countries, registered its headquarters in George Town, Cayman Islands, in 2017. In 2019, it also registered a subsidiary in Mahe, Seychelles.

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