Binance to Add Fiat-to-Crypto OTC Trading in a Month, Co-Founder Says

Crypto exchange Binance is planning to add over-the-counter (OTC) trading to its platform in a month to provide users with fiat currency gateways.

Binance’s co-founder and chief marketing officer He Yi said at a media session on Tuesday during the Shanghai Blockchain Week that the exchange will specifically support fiat on-ramp via OTC for Chinese yuan.

He added that the new service will be part of Binance’s plan in the coming months to dedicate more time and resources to compete in the Chinese market. Further, the exchange is also rolling out a payment service to allow users from 170 countries to buy crypto assets using fiat currencies at Binance.com.

Fiat-to-crypto OTC trading has been a critical part in terms of fiat on-ramp for crypto traders based in China as local authorities prevent the direct connection of exchanges to banks and fiat deposits as part of the ban on initial coin offerings in September 2017.

Other long-running Chinese exchanges like Huobi and OKCoin have since then moved overseas and offered crypto-to-crypto trading while recruiting OTC market makers onto their platforms to help users buy and sell cryptos using Chinese yuan. 

The news about Binance’s OTC capabilities comes as the exchange, which, according to CoinMarketCap data, is the world’s largest by trading volume, quickly racks up deals that increase its links with the real economy and improve its connections to mainstream finance.

At the beginning of the month, it began to offer sandboxes for the testing of two crypto-futures trading platforms, dubbed Futures A and Futures B. Users will vote on which is the best. The following day, it said it acquired Seychelles-registered JEX, a crypto derivatives exchange.

Last week, Binance introduced a dollar-based stable coin, Binance USD, and said the coin received approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).

The exchange is pitching its stable coins as alternatives to Libre. Also in the U.S., Binance said it would start accepting U.S. customers via its partner from Sept. 18, after banning them earlier in the year.

And just yesterday, the exchange invested into Mars Finance, a Chinese crypto data and media company, although the amount of the investment was not disclosed.

Binance image via Shutterstock