Binance [BNB] – Binance Singapore Launches with Support for One Trading Pair

Binance’s highly anticipated fiat-to-crypto onramp exchange in Singapore was quietly launched to an underwhelming reception mainly to the fact that the exchange only supports one exchange pair. Surprisingly the exchange does not even support the native Binance Coin [BNB] as of yet. Singapore residents will be able to exchange their Singapore dollars with Bitcoin at the moment as they await further additions.

In correspondence between Binance and a tech review website, a Binance spokesperson stated that,

“Binance is excited to bring world-class blockchain technology to Singapore and we look forward to showcasing Binance’s tier one safety and security measures to the world. BTC/SGD is the initial pair Binance Singapore is offering with the soft launch and there may be more pairs added as regulations allow.”

The launch of the Binance Singapore fiat-to-crypto onramp was initially revealed by Binance CFO Wei Zhou last week at the Paris Blockchain Week Summit. Zhou is in charge of all Binance onramps and so far has led the launch of all three Binance onramps including the one for Uganda and Jersey.

“From a fiat on-ramp perspective, it will be a very exciting launch in terms of allowing people in Singapore to access cryptocurrency from their traditional banking channels,” he said.

Binance Singapore is an effort by Binance to gain a foothold in the Asia cryptocurrency scene. The Binance Singapore website lists payment processing Fintech Xfers as the partner with which they are working to bring the exchange to Singapore. Xfers previously worked with American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase when it ventured into Singapore last year but their partnership did not last very long.

On termination of their partnership, Coinbase claimed that part of the reason to drop its partnership and eventually quit the Singapore market was that Xfers was “not suitable in its current form to handle the growth.”

Binance stated that ,

“With regard to Xfers’ prior partnership with Coinbase, Xfers is now able to handle volumes large enough to support Binance Singapore. In partnership with Xfers, we will work together to build a key fiat gateway that will grow the industry.”

Unconfirmed reports show that Binance is planning to launch at least two fiat-to-crypto onramps in each continent. The next onramp should be established in Lichtenstein soon as plans to launch South Korea, Argentina, Russia, and Turkey onramps take shape over the coming months.