Fiat is a ‘Big Thing’ for Binance as They Focus More on Fiat Onramp

Fiat-to-crypto conversion is a big thing for Binance, stressed the exchange’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao in his recent livestream. Speaking of fiat onramp, he said that “there’s a lot of initiatives happening,” from fiat gateways to Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin.

Though fiat onramp is something Binance has had their focus on for a while, the CEO said they’re now going “deeper into it” and will be a lot more “hands on.” As Binance started as a crypto-to-crypto exchange, it didn’t work with fiat for two years, “but now we’re learning our ropes and we do want to facilitate crypto-to-fiat conversion,” said the CEO, adding that they are exploring ways to enable withdrawing of fiat as well.

Zhao discussed several of the ways in which they are working on fiat onramp.

1. Multiple options have been added to the platform, such as Binance’s partnership with the payment processing company Simplex, announced in January this year, or that with Coino, both of which allow users to buy crypto with credit and debit cards directly on the platform.
2. There’s also the BUSD – Binance USD stablecoin launched in partnership with Paxos Trust Company. The coin’s current version – “the buying, issuing and redemption of it” – is completed, and the CEO announced the next version with the optimized experience, saying that there is a demand for this stablecoin. BUSD is listed on a number of exchanges, he said, and “we’re already seeing a huge uptake – in the last several days, there were USD 10 or USD 20 million being bought by users, so from the issuer perspective they are being distributed.”
3. Additionally, the revamping of Buy Crypto page is underway, which a fiat entry gateway that allows users to buy crypto with fiat. “We’ll continue to add more fiat channels onto that page,” said Zhao.
4. Finally, he said that Binance is hoping to add whatever fiat they’re customers are using in their local area “very soon.”

The CEO stated that these are just some larger fiat onramp efforts, but that there are many smaller things happening every day.

Meanwhile, Zhao also said that Binance Launchpad will continue and that the exchange is still facilitating token sales through it. He still believes that blockchain fundraising is a fundamental tool that this and other industries should have, adding that it’s “very useful app for entrepreneurs, for small investors to be able to invest in projects across the world.” While some other unspecified exchanges are stopping the IEO’s, thinking “that the performance is not good,” Binance still looks “for strong projects [to] help them raise money and […] grow in the long term.” The goals is to do these projects correctly, he stresses, but they are no guarantees that Launchpad projects will be successful as there are many risks involved, the CEO adds. (Read more: Has the IEO Craze Already Fizzled Out?)

Binance’s native token, Binance Coin (BNB), trades (09:56 UTC) at c. USD 16, having appreciated 4.5% in the past 24 hours, and dropping 24% in the past week.