• Binance announces the launch of a fiat gateway in South Africa during the Blockchain Africa Conference 2020. 
• Binance Charity pledged $1 million to support the development of blockchain education.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao revealed that the crypto exchange will open a fiat gateway in South Africa. The announcement was made during the Blockchain Africa Conference 2020 and is part of Binance’s initiative to boost the adoption of cryptocurrencies in the region.

In addition, Zhao said that Binance seeks to provide financial access to the 66% of unbanked people in Africa through cryptocurrencies. The announcement was confirmed by Tanya Knowles, the country manager for Binance South Africa. During her presentation, Knowles said that Binance’s fiat gateway will operate with more than 150 coins.

In addition, South African users will be able to access all products of the exchange including futures contracts, trusted wallets, spot trading, among others. The exchange will also offer a discount to users that use Binance’s native token, BNB. Users will be able to utilize the gateway with the local currency, the rand (ZAR), for the following pairs: BTC/ZAR, BNB/ZAR, ETH/ZAR, USDT/ZAR, and BUSD/ZAR.

The Blockchain Africa Conference is an annual event that aims to bring together important leaders of the blockchain industry to discuss the most relevant issues in this sector. At this year’s conference, topics such as Sovereign Identity (SSI), Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Trade Finance, Access to Financial Services, Cross Border Payments, among others, were discussed in projects like Ethereum, Ripple, Stellar Lumens, Cardano and Bitcoin.

In addition to the announcement Knowles also reported that Binance Charity pledged $1 million to support the advancement of ecosystems, growth and development of blockchain education in South Africa.

Cooperation between Binance and Ripple?

On the other hand, there are rumours of a possible cooperation between Binance exchange and the cross-border payment company, Ripple. The CEO of Binance.US, Catherine Coley, stated in a recent interview that both companies share the vision of offering remittances with low fees and banking services globally. Although the CEO of Binance has expressed his desire to consolidate the cooperation, there is still no definite date and it remains an unofficial rumor.

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