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Crypto exchange Binance restores euro services after new fiat partners

October 20, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Binance

Euro payments, deposits, and withdrawals are back on for European Binance users months after the severance of services by PaySafe.

Crypto exchange Binance has announced it has onboarded new partners to handle euro deposits and withdrawals, months after losing its previous fiat partner PaySafe in September.

In an Oct. 19 statement, Binance announced that it had signed agreements with new fiat partners for euro payments, deposits, and withdrawals.

The move follows regulatory and debanking woes in the European Union, where the firm was forced to look for new banking partners after it lost the support of PaySafe in September.

Binance said that users have already started being migrated to the new services provided by “a number of new regulated and authorized fiat partners.” It did not specify which firms it had partnered with, however.

More EUR fiat channels have arrived on #Binance

We’re proud to announce that we’ve entered into agreements with multiple new EUR partners to provide deposit, withdrawal, and payment services, making your experience even more seamless.

Find out more https://t.co/jKh2QxH3sN
— Binance (@binance) October 19, 2023

The announcement noted that fiat services offered by the new partners include EUR deposits and withdrawals via Open Banking and SEPA/SEPA Instant.

Users can also buy and sell crypto using SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area), bank cards, and their fiat balances, and trade EUR spot pairs.

In late September, Binance urged its European users to convert their euros into Tether (USDT) before the end of October, though the latest announcement could suggest this is now not necessary.

However, some users were still reporting issues depositing euros even after the announcement, while others asked about fiat partners for the British pound in the UK.

Paysafe pulled support for transactions in British pounds in May following concerns raised by United Kingdom financial regulators over the partnership.

On Oct. 16, Binance suspended access to its exchange for new users based in the UK. The move followed the termination of a partnership with a third party to approve communications on its platform under new local rules by the country’s watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Binance has yet to source fiat partnerships for its UK exchange where British users are still unable to deposit GBP.

Cointelegraph contacted Binance for more specifics but did not receive an immediate response.

Magazine: SBF’s alleged Chinese bribe, Binance clarifies account freeze: Asia Express

Crypto exchange Binance among firms eyeing new stablecoins in Japan

September 26, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Binance

Binance and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (MUTB) are exploring the issuance of Yen and other foreign currency-denominated stablecoins in Japan.

Crypto exchange Binance is teaming up with Japan’s largest bank, the Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (MUTB), to explore the issuance of stablecoins in Japan.

On Sept. 25, Binance Japan announced a joint study that aims to see the companies issue yen and other fiat stablecoins to accelerate Web3 adoption in Japan. The pair plan to utilize a platform called “Progmat Coin” which would be a Japanese regulatory-compliant stablecoin issuance and management system.

The Japanese bank would be pioneering the development of the "Progmat Coin" platform as infrastructure for issuing stablecoins in accordance with Japan’s recently revised and enforced Payments Services Act. The legislation, which took effect in June, allows Japanese banks and regulated crypto providers to issue stablecoins.

*Binance Progmat logos. Source: Binance PR*

The platform supports stablecoin issuance on Ethereum but may be expanded to include BNB Chain through the partnership with Binance, Binance said in a statement.

In a statement the general manager of Binance Japan, Takeshi Chino, said stablecoins are vital for the broader financial ecosystem. In addition to providing lower-cost and instantaneous cross-border trade settlement for businesses, they also facilitate seamless crypto transactions for retail investors, he added.

Stablecoins fill an important financial services need and are crucial for the success of Web3 adoption.

According to Tatsuya Saito, MUFG’s vice president of product, Japan’s stablecoin market has the potential to grow to as large as $34 billion (5 trillion yen). This equates to around 27% of the estimated current global market which is $123.7 billion, according to CoinGecko.

Binance, which has faced a mountain of regulatory pressure in the West, started offering 34 tokens at the launch of its services for the Japanese market in August 2023.

Meanwhile, Japan's Orix Bank is reportedly also weighing plans to issue stablecoins in the country.

Orix aims to begin testing yen, dollar, and other stablecoins in October eyeing a 2024 launch. They will be backed by fiat deposits utilizing the Japan Open Chain blockchain developed by Tokyo-based G.U. Technologies and partners.

Japan appears well poised to roll out stablecoins for payment rails. In August, Cointelegraph reported that Japanese blockchain startup Soramitsu was exploring a new stablecoin exchange for a cross-border payment system for Asian countries.

Earlier this month, the Japanese government reportedly planned to permit startups to raise public funds through the issuance of crypto assets and stablecoins.

Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom

Pancakeswap integrates Transak for fiat onboarding on multiple chains

September 21, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Pancakeswap now allows users to purchase crypto with debit card, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and other methods through Transak.

Decentralized exchange Pancakeswap now offers Transak as a provider in its “buy crypto” tab, giving Pancakeswap users an additional option when shopping for crypto, according to an announcement on September 21. Mercuryo and Moonpay were previously providers for this feature, making Transak the third provider to be added.

*Caption: Pancakeswap buy crypto tab. Source: Pancakeswap*

Pancakeswap is a multichain decentralized crypto exchange (DEX). It’s available on 8 different blockchain networks, including BNB Chain, Ethereum, Base, Polygon zkEVM, and others. It has over $1.3 billion worth of crypto locked in its contracts and does over $150 billion in volume per day, according to crypto analytics platform DeFi Llama.

As with all DEXs, Pancakeswap can’t perform fiat to crypto conversions on its own. Users have to first own cryptocurrency in a wallet before they can use the exchange. Its development team recently implemented the “buy crypto” feature in an attempt to fix this problem by allowing users to onboard with third-party providers like Mercuryo, Moonpay and now Transak. Transak claims to be integrated into over 350 Web3 apps, making it one of the most accessible crypto onboarding services.

According to the announcement, Transak will provide “over 20 different payment options based on global needs,” including debit cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay, bank transfers, and others, and will provide nine different cryptocurrencies across seven different blockchain networks to Pancakeswap users.

Pancakeswap’s pseudonymous leader, head chef Mochi, stated that the integration will help make decentralized finance protocols easier to use:

“[I]t's imperative that entry points remain simple yet robust. Transak's expertise in fiat on-ramping, combined with PancakeSwap's platform capabilities, promises an era where diving into decentralized finance is intuitive and barrier-free for all."

Pancakeswap launched a web3 game called “Pancake Protectors” on May 30. The game gives extra perks to holders of the DEXs governance token, CAKE. The token’s inflation rate was reduced to 3%-5% through a governance vote in April.

Nifty News: Yuga Labs to buy metaverse studio, Etihad NFT staking to take off and more

August 1, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Roar Studios will be acquired by Yuga Labs as the latter looks to onboard talent for its still-in-development Otherside metaverse.

Yuga Labs accelerates Otherside plan

Nonfungible token (NFT) conglomerate Yuga Labs has agreed to acquire the metaverse-building startup Roar Studios as Yuga looks to bolster its Otherside metaverse.

Yuga tweeted the news on July 31 saying the impending acquisition was to “execute our expansive vision” for Otherside.

An accompanying release said Roar Studios' founder and CEO Eric Reid will join Yuga as the general manager of Otherside, charged with leading the development and production of the metaverse.

We are proud to announce Yuga Labs is acquiring Roar Studios, a music and metaverse startup led by long-time entertainment Executive, Eric Reid, to execute our expansive vision for @OthersideMeta.

For more, read here: https://t.co/Ll9OMrSwEP. pic.twitter.com/o2FankWun2
— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) July 31, 2023

Yuga is also nabbing audio, game and artificial intelligence engineers from Roar’s team which is 14 strong according to LinkedIn.

Otherside has only been glimpsed through a handful of early access demos which started in August 2022 alongside a more recent “vibe check.” It’s unknown when the project will officially launch.

Earlier today we brought together a small focus group of 40 Voyagers in LA to delve into Otherside for a vibe check. pic.twitter.com/fXpyUk81w8
— Othersidemeta (@OthersideMeta) July 28, 2023

In mid-July Yuga chief Daniel Alegre said it's still hard at work building Otherside adding the project will take time as it's “audacious.”

Yuga also scooped up the CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT collections in March 2022 and in November 2022 it acquired the Beeple-founded NFT game 10KTF.

Etihad NFTs to offer priority check-in, lounge access

Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad will soon take off with an NFT staking loyalty program called “Horizon Club” and is expanding its current NFT collection.

On Aug. 1, 300 new NFTs will be added to Etihad’s EY-ZERO1 collection, which will offer benefits like priority check-in, lounge access in Abu Dhabi and the ability to stake the NFT to earn flight miles.

Introducing ‘Etihad Horizon Club’: one of the world’s first Web3 airline loyalty programs, powered by @arcubenft. Stake your NFTs to earn Etihad miles and spend on travel & web 3 perks.

More miles per day for Etihad: Mission Impossible Livery NFT holders!

Launching in Q3 2023 pic.twitter.com/n6b1GJlvPN
— Etihad NFT (@EtihadNFT) July 28, 2023

Etihad isn’t launching the NFT staking platform until September but a trailer for the product shows users will be able to stake multiple NFTs to earn flight miles which are redeemable for various perks such as flights, upgrades and hotels.

As for the new NFTs, they depict an Etihad aircraft wrapped in branding for the latest Mission: Impossible film which the airline has a promotional partnership with.

NFT service platform Arcube collaborated on the collection and is one of the Web3 partners for the airline.

Lufthansa and Eurowings, two European airlines, have also flirted with Web3 integrations and are seeing how it could apply to their business models.

NFT Now cuts staff as crypto winter bites

NFT-focused news outlet NFT Now is reducing its staff count and restructuring, citing the ongoing crypto market winter.

NFT Now president Alejandro Navia tweeted on July 31 that it over-hired during the bull market and changing market conditions are forcing it to restructure and make cuts.

I have difficult news to share: pic.twitter.com/ufcknaboEO
— ALΞJANDRO (@AlejNavia) July 31, 2023

“Our company experienced rapid growth during the bull run, and we hired to service that growth,” reads Navia’s note.

“However, as we are building the business for the long term, we must adapt to changing market conditions,” he added. “Given the current climate, it is clear that this pace of growth was unsustainable and we over-hired.”

Navia said he takes “full ownership of this mistake” in his role as president. He did not disclose how many staff were impacted by the decision.

Sorare adds fiat in bid to boost adoption

The sports gaming platform Sorare has added support for fiat currencies to purchase its NFT-based digital trading cards, removing the need for users to pay in Ether (ETH).

As part of an update to its wallet users can now use U.S. dollars, euros or British pounds to buy the NFT cards which Sorare said eliminates a barrier to entry, according to a VentureBeat report.

A Sorare-affiliated account tweeted on July 31 that the rollout of what it calls the “Cash Wallet” will progressively start on Aug. 1 with more fiat functionality coming in September.

Cash Wallet Update

Cash Wallet is almost here! Over the next several days and weeks, we'll be rolling out functionality that enables Managers to easily buy, sell, trade cards and receive rewards in cash.

Here’s what to expect on or around the following dates:
-Monday, July…
— Sorare Support (@soraresupport) July 31, 2023

Other Nifty News

Two U.S. lawmakers stung Apple CEO Tim Cook with a letter asking for information on if its App Store’s guidelines are dampening the growth of blockchain and NFT technologies due to it limiting the functionality of Web3 apps.

A computer scientist and an archaeologist have developed a Web3-based verification-as-a-service model for recording the authenticity of cultural artifacts as NFTs.

NFT Collector: Interactive NFTs the future for sport, Vegas Sphere excites

Bitcoin on $3K discount at Binance.US, but there’s a catch

July 10, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Binance.us

Bitcoin is selling for just over $27,500 on Binance.US, a nearly $3,000 discount from global spot prices.

Bitcoin (BTC) is selling for a nearly $3,000 discount on Binance.US, providing a significantly better rate than global spot prices — but there’s just one catch.

On July 9, a swathe of crypto users began noticing a widening price discrepancy between cryptocurrencies listed on the United States crypto exchange and their global spot prices, with many calling it a “depeg” of cryptocurrencies.

BTC/USD charts on Binance.US shows a current price of $27,536. Source: *Binance.US*

Bitcoin is currently trading at $27,536 on the exchange against the U.S. dollar, which is around an 8.5% discount from global spot USD prices of $30,106 at the time of writing.

Other cryptocurrencies are also trading at a discount in U.S. dollar terms. Ethereum prices are around $200 cheaper on Binance.US, trading for $1,695 at the time of writing. Some stablecoins such as USDT were also trading below their pegs with Tether at $0.915 on the exchange.

WOAH. Bitcoin is trading at $26,970 on binance US vs it’s $30,300 (real price)

Ethereum is $200 lower than normal

USDT is at 0.889 cents pic.twitter.com/LgKeMEDZQv
— borovik.eth (@3orovik) July 9, 2023

However, while the crypto discounts look enticing for an arbitrager, the reality is that most investors will not be able to take advantage of them.

This is because the discount only applies when a cryptocurrency is traded against fiat USD on the crypto exchange.

The problem is, Binance.US users have not been able to deposit new USD into the platform since June 9, when it was suspended. Effectively, this means that the discounted cryptocurrencies can only be bought with any USD already sitting on the account before the suspensions took place.

Concerns that Binance.US will soon halt USD withdrawals have also led to some users trading their cryptocurrencies below market value in order to exit their positions in USD.

According to an email from Binance.US to customers, which has circulated on Twitter, the last day for USD withdrawals will be July 20.

In late May, a similar situation occurred relating to the Australian dollar at the Australian branch of Binance when the company’s third-party payments provider shuttered fiat on and off ramps.

The price of BTC on Binance fell 20% compared to global spot prices when traded against the Australian dollar.

Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom

Fiat

Yuga Labs accelerates Otherside plan

Etihad NFTs to offer priority check-in, lounge access

NFT Now cuts staff as crypto winter bites

Sorare adds fiat in bid to boost adoption

Other Nifty News

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