Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced the launch of Latamex, a fiat-to-crypto gateway located in Latin America. Latamex operates under the umbrella of the greater Binance Fiat Gateway.
The new platform will allow Latin American users in Brazil and Argentina to make direct purchases of cryptocurrency with the Argentinian Peso (ARS) and Brazilian Real (BRL).
The gateway has been launched in partnership with Settle Network, which Binance described as “the largest digital assets settlement network in Latin America.”
#Binance Opens Brazilian real $BRL and Argentine peso $ARS Fiat Gateway Through Latamexhttps://t.co/Vx6LSuVle6 pic.twitter.com/AVXz36y7ND
— Binance (@binance) December 12, 2019
The announcement of the launch of the fiat gateway was made during laBitConf, a Latin American cryptocurrency event held in Montevideo, Uruguay; the announcement was also posted on Binance’s blog earlier this week.
Binance takes a step toward Latin America
The opening of the crypto-to-fiat gateway seems to indicate that Binance is interested in developing its presence in Latin America.
Indeed, “There is a strong need for cryptocurrency in Latin America, especially for financial access,” said Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) in the blog post announcing Latamex. “Roughly 50 percent of the Latin American population is unbanked, and Latamex is a response to our users’ demands and the current market climate.”
Working with Settle Network allows us to instantly bridge the gap between fiat and crypto for Latin American traders. We are continuing to build with our key partner, Settle Network, to bring wider accessibility of cryptocurrency in Latin America and will support additional local fiat currencies in the region in the future.”
CZ: “Building fiat gateways is what we need now to grow the ecosystem.”
However, Latin America isn’t the only destination that Binance seems to have set its sights on in recent times.
Indeed, FortuneZ reported on December 12th that Binance was announcing a strategic partnership with Estonian peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace Paxful. Paxful’s Virtual Bitcoin Kiosk was integrated into the exchange, allowing Binance users to utilize Paxful’s p2p network to buy Bitcoin on Binance with 167 various fiat currencies.
Additionally, last month, Binance announced a partnership with payments service Papara to offer deposits and withdrawals of the Turkish lira (TRY), and with Advcash to offer deposits and withdrawals of Euros (EUR), Russian Rubles (RUB), Ukrainian hryvnia (UAH) and Kazakhstani Tenge (KZT.) Previously, Binance announced that it would be integrating stablecoin issuer Paxos’ fiat gateway.
“The crypto industry is still in its early stages and most of the world’s money is still in fiat,” said CZ in the blog post regarding the launch of Latamex. “Building fiat gateways is what we need now to grow the ecosystem, increase adoption and introduce crypto to more users.”
(Photo: Binance)
