Binance has added its first fiat currency trading pair. Nigerian users of the platform will now be able to deposit using their local currency, the naira, at the popular crypto trading venue.
Previously, users of the platform have only been able to trade cryptocurrency for other cryptocurrency. However, that looks set to change with today’s announncement and the fact that Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has hinted that the exchange is also close to being able to add more fiat currencies.
Binance Supporting Growing Crypto Market in Nigeria
Previously, NewsBTC has reported on the growing interest in crypto assets observed in parts of Africa. LocalBitcoins volume data, provided by UsefulTulips, shows that Nigeria is one of the nations with the biggest appetite for trading digital currencies on the continent.
With an announcement made by Binance earlier today, the crypto asset traders of Nigeria have become the first in the world to be able to deposit their own national currency to the exchange platform.
#Binance Lists NGN. Enjoy Zero Fee Depositshttps://t.co/eTbNE0efOI pic.twitter.com/iLxuoTHSKD
— Binance (@binance) October 24, 2019
According to a post to the company’s support section, the Nigerian naira (ticker: NGN) deposits will be facilitated by the online payment’s company Flutterwave. Initially, trading in the Nigerian national currency will be limited to Bitcoin (BTC), Binance Coin (BNB), and the crypto exchange’s own stablecoin BUSD.
The exchange also announced a promotion to mark its first listing of a fiat currency:
“To celebrate the first fiat currency listing on Binance, all newly registered users who deposit NGN to Binance through Flutterwave will enjoy zero fees for deposits up to 36,000 NGN starting October 24, 2019.”
https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1187309342250266624
The CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, promoted the announcement via his own Twitter account earlier today. Accompanying the exchange’s initial post was the message:
“You know what it happens next, right? First leads to more…”
Given the sheer number of obscure digital assets listed at Binance, the company has so far been unable to offer anything but crypto-to-crypto trading. Meanwhile, those exchanges providing deposits in other fiat currencies, such as Coinbase, Kraken, or Bitstamp, only support trading of a small number of the most established cryptocurrencies. Regulatory uncertainty makes pushing to add fiat currencies, in the case of Binance, or to add additional cryptocurrencies, in the case of fiat-to-crypto exchanges, a challenge. In fact, earlier this year, US regulators took issue with Binance. This forced the exchange to shut up operations and rush to launch a US division with a vastly reduced set of crypto assets for users to trade.
Related Reading: Is Largely Unbanked Africa Primed for Bitcoin Adoption?
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