Firm races to bolster Africa crypto share
By John Otini, December 14, 2022Leading crypto exchange Binance is racing to consolidate its market share in Africa with local currency transactions, education programmes and local hires.
In August, Binance enabled instant deposits and withdrawals for the South African Rand. This launch enabled South African users to make fast payments, secure deposits via Instant EFT, providing a new and competitive fiat gateway for South Africa.
In October 2022, it also added a fiat gateway for the Nigerian Naira through Cashlink. Following the fiat gateway launch, Nigerian users are able to withdraw and deposit NGN directly to and from their wallets, enabling greater financial accessibility for African users.
New products
“As a leader in the blockchain industry, Binance continues to innovate and boost new products and services that enable financial accessibility for Africans,” Binance said in a press statement.
The company said it recorded a significant increase in Binance Pay users across the continent, highlighting its strong use case and continued uptake. Binance Gift Card also became available in Ghana, making it the first of its kind on the continent.
The company also strengthened its presence in the East African, South African and Francophone African markets with new hires including new regional leads, Nadeem Anjarwalla (East Africa Regional Director) and Hannes Wessels (South Africa Regional Director) to head business operations in their respective regions.
“Overall, the Africa team more than doubled in size, highlighting the company’s focus on the region and the holistic crypto-forward mindset of the African continent,” the company said.
The changes are happening amidst a storm that has seen the second largest player FTX sink with investor funds and many more crypto companies have gone under.
The turmoil has seen critics say that Central Bank Digital Currencies will now take over the space due to the near collapse of the crypto ecosystem.