Nigerian Naira Is First African Fiat Currency Supported on Binance P2P

[Mercury]

As part of ongoing fiat-to-crypto expansion, major cryptocurrency Binance is adding support for the Nigerian Naira (NGN) on its peer-to-peer (P2P) platform.

Binance P2P, a consumer-to-consumer business arm of Binance exchange, is rolling out support for the first African fiat currency on its platform. According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, Binance P2P users can trade major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) using NGN with zero transaction fees starting from March 4.

Users in Nigeria can now post trade ads via P2P Merchants

The NGN integration also allows users in Nigeria to directly purchase and sell cryptos like Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) and major stablecoin Tether (USDT) with other users and verified merchants using the P2P platform. The zero-fee services are available both via the Binance website and Binance mobile app, the firm announced.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ in the crypto community, outlined that customers can post trade ads for earning money by using the P2P merchants platform. He said:

“We are also providing an unique opportunity for users to become P2P Merchants where they can post trade ads and earn money, estimated to be a few thousand dollars USD equivalent per month, while providing cryptocurrency access for their communities.”

As the Nigerian Naira is the first African currency supported on Binance P2P platform, Binance plans to further introduce its P2P trading service to more African countries this month, the announcement reads. CZ pointed out Africa as a “blockchain continent,” noting that cryptocurrency finally powers people in the region to complete basic financial operations.

The Binance CEO continued:

“We no longer need to bank the unbanked. We can empower them with cryptocurrency financial services directly. Nigeria is a vibrant innovation hub with great passion for cryptocurrencies [...]  We strive to provide the easiest cryptocurrency access and best trading service for the African community, and P2P trading is a more flexible approach, giving users the freedom to choose their payment methods and counterparty in a trade.”

Binance first listed Nigerian Naira for deposits in October 2019

Launched by Binance in October 2019, Binance P2P is a peer-to-peer marketplace for buying and selling fiat and cryptocurrencies. The company’s P2P arm aims to increase global crypto adoption by facilitating direct fiat-to-crypto trades between users and merchants. Initially supported only though Binance mobile app, Binance P2P service was rolled out for web support on Feb. 28.

Binance P2P has added a number of fiat currencies so far, with Vietnamese Dong being one of the latest fiat currencies supported on the platform. In January, Binance also introduced its P2P Merchant Program as a user-oriented fiat currency trading platform.

The addition of Nigerian Naira is not completely new to Binance exchange though. In October 2019, Binance initially opened deposits for NGN, featuring three major trading pairs including USD/NGN, Binance Coin/NGN and Bitcoin/NGN. Binance’s aggressive fiat onramp strategy comes in line with CZ’s promise to list more than 180 fiat currencies on Binance. As reported by Coitnelegraph, Binance CEO said in early January 2020:

“One of our key goals for 2020 is to bring crypto to the masses. For this, we aim to enable fiat-to-crypto trading for 180+ fiat currencies.”

Earlier today, Binance experienced another unscheduled maintenance session. CZ subsequently tweeted that the issue was fixed and the platform would be back online in a “few minutes.”

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