Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume, enabled credit card payments on its platform to allow users to purchase Bitcoin and other major crypto assets using Visa and Mastercard.
The integration of credit card payments into the Binance trading platform comes after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) emphasized the importance of fiat on-ramps in increasing the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies.
Why Credit Card Payments are Crucial on Binance
Earlier this month, in an interview with Boxmining at the Binance Blockchain Week conference in Singapore, CZ said that it is important to strengthen the infrastructure that supports fiat-to-crypto trades.
Most of the money, especially in traditional markets, remain in fiat. For the long-term growth of crypto, CZ explained that more fiat on-ramps will have to be introduced to expose cryptocurrencies as an asset class to a wide range of investors.
Following the successful launch of Binance Jersey, a fiat-to-crypto exchange that supports British pound and euro trades, CZ said:
So far, the Jersey market is overwhelmed with demand. That shows there’s plenty of demand there. Right now, the way i view it is that most of the money is still in fiat, it’s still much larger than the crypto market cap. So we need to get fiat coming in. On the other side of it, we are working on the decentralized exchange so the Binance DEX will come out soon.
https://t.co/THxfdd3RD2 is overwhelmed with registrations. There is a backlog of KYC verifications already. More resources are allocated to reduce it. In the mean time, we appreciate your understanding and patience. The registration prize is FIFO based, no worries. Just crazy!
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) January 17, 2019
Less than two weeks since the launch of Binance Jersey, through a processing company called Simplex, Binance officially enabled credit card purchases of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ripple (XRP).
In an official statement, CZ stated:
“We want to provide Binance traders with fast and easy access to crypto, in the most secure way possible. Partnering with Simplex allows us to instantly bridge the gap between credit card payments and crypto for traders globally. On Binance.com, you can now buy crypto with credit cards and start trading in minutes.”
Speaking to CCN in an exclusive interview, CCN said that Binance is consistently exploring more ways to introduce fiat on-ramps globally.
Credit cards still remain as the dominant payment option for billions of users and CZ said Binance will continue to add more options in the long run.
Previously, CZ said the company is working toward launching five to ten fiat-to-crypto exchanges in 2019.
CZ told CCN:
“The more ways we can offer people to buy crypto, the better. Credit card is a major method for payment. We are happy to finally make this available to our community. We will continue to work hard to add more options over time.”
Crypto Sector is Active, Growing Fast
In early January, merely hours after the Binance team announced the launch of Binance Jersey, CZ revealed that the demand for the newly established exchange was “overwhelming.”
Until Binance expanded to Europe, there were only a handful of major cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the region.
According to the data from CryptoCompare, Europe only accounts for 3.66 percent of the global Bitcoin volume, behind Japan and the U.S.
Despite having a head start over countries like South Korea and Japan, many European countries have struggled to see exponential growth in local crypto markets, primarily due to the lack of fiat on-ramps throughout the past several years.
Over time, as major crypto companies including Binance strengthen the infrastructure surrounding the asset class and offer more fiat on-ramps, analysts expect the adoption of cryptocurrencies to increase.
As CZ said, the cryptocurrency market is still at its infancy. To grow an emerging asset class, it is important to establish a wide range of options and investment vehicles to grow its liquidity and ease of access.
“The crypto industry is still in its early stages and most of the world’s money is still in fiat. Building fiat gateways is what we need now to grow the ecosystem, increase adoption and introduce crypto to more users,” said CZ.
