Binance Boosts Bitcoin, Ether Trading in Argentine, Brazilian, South African Currencies With Fee Promotion

Crypto exchange Binance said it will expand its zero-fee trading promotion to the Argentine, Brazilian and South African currency spot trading pairs starting Friday.

Binance users will be able to trade bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and Tether’s USDT stablecoin with the Argentine peso, Brazilian real and South African rand on the spot market without paying any so-called maker fees, according to a Thursday blog post. Makers create orders and wait for them to be filled, while takers remove liquidity by taking available orders.

The exchange’s action comes as Binance faces legal and regulatory challenges in the U.S. and Europe, and crypto trading volumes hit the lowest levels since 2019, hurting revenue streams.

Binance last month shut its crypto payments service Connect to focus on its main products. It has also withdrawn from issuing branded debit cards in Latin America and the Middle East.

Boosting crypto trading with emerging market currencies makes sense for the exchange because developing countries are leading in crypto adoption, a Chainalysis study pointed out last year. Many people in countries with frail financial systems like Argentina are turning to digital assets to store value or hedge against volatility in the local currency.

Binance has also extended zero-fee promotion on trading with off-shore stablecoins TrueUSD (TUSD) and First Digital’s FDUSD earlier this year.