Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance has launched peer-to-peer (P2P) trading for the Vietnamese dong (VND).
Vietnam-based Binance users can now directly purchase and sell major cryptocurrencies using VND through the latest versions of the Binance P2P mobile app on iOS and Android.
The four supported cryptocurrencies include Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), major stablecoin Tether (USDT) as well as Binance’s native cryptocurrency Binance Coin (BNB), the firm said in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Jan. 20.
Vietnamese dong is the second fiat currency on Binance’s P2P
While Binance has been actively rolling out multiple global fiat onramps for currencies like Indian rupees and Turkish lira, the Vietnamese dong is the second fiat currency added on Binance’s P2P trading platform after Chinese yuan (CNY). Binance debuted its P2P trading with yuan in October 2019, making China the world’s first jurisdiction to benefit from Binance’s peer-to-peer trading for Bitcoin, Ether and USDT against its fiat currency.
As Binance P2P is available only in China and Vietnam to date, the service will be gradually expanded to add more countries over the course of 2020, the press release notes. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in the press release:
“Binance is committed to providing our global users with more convenient fiat gateways and easy access to cryptocurrency, and our P2P service aims to lower the barriers to entry to the crypto world. We are pleased to introduce fiat-to-crypto P2P trading services to Vietnamese users to flexibly trade cryptocurrency at low costs.”
Additionally, Zhao reiterated Binance’s ambitious plans to expand fiat-to-crypto access on Binance for users in over 180 countries in order to achieve their mission of “freedom of money.”
Why the P2P trading service is important
As reported by Cointelegraph, the idea of P2P cryptocurrency exchanges is providing direct trading between participants without the need for a trusted third party to process the trades. As such, P2P trading is an important aspect of decentralization and is usually operated and maintained exclusively by software.
P2P cryptocurrency trading is particularly significant in China due to the country’s hard stance towards crypto, including the ban on crypto-to-fiat trading and initial coin offerings in the country back in 2017.
Meanwhile, Vietnam is still working on cryptocurrency regulation. As of late March 2019, there was no legal framework for cryptocurrencies in Vietnam, as Cointelegraph reported. Despite regulatory uncertainty, Vietnam’s regulators have previously taken a negative stance to crypto by suspending the import of cryptocurrency mining hardware as well as banning local companies from multiple crypto-related activities in July 2018.
