Binance to open a South African bank account
Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao says that the crypto exchange would love to open a local bank account to allow South African crypto users to have a better experience.
By Staff
Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange, says it would love to collaborate with regional banks to set up a local account in South Africa. This was disclosed by Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, in an interview with MyBroadband.
Zhao was replying to inquiries about whether Binance would consider adding support for Rand deposits and delisting ZAR trading pairs when he shared about Binance collaborating with local banks.
He said, “If there are local banks willing to work with Binance to open bank accounts, we would love to do that because it’s a better user experience.”
He added that although it sounds counterintuitive for banks to work with cryptocurrency exchanges, allowing them to operate together is better for regulators than trying to block them.
“It offers regulators much more clarity and much more data about what is flowing into Binance and what is flowing out,” said Zhao.
“Whereas today, people trade using cash and peer-to-peer bank transfers, and that data is actually very unclear to regulators,” CZ added.
Zhao also emphasized that the best way foreign exchange monitoring boards can enforce their currency controls is to allow banks to work with cryptocurrency exchanges.
In 2020, Binance implemented trading pairs for bitcoin, ether, its own BNB token, and USD tether (USDT) in the South African Rand. But a year later, it abruptly stopped trading the pairings.
According to initial reports, Binance discontinued Rand trading because trade volumes on the relevant pairs were too low. Zhao clarified that Binance delisted its Rand trading pairs in response to a regulatory request.
When asked if the size of the South African market was worth the effort to deal with the regulatory issues in the country, Zhao assured that it was.
“South Africa is one of the most important markets in Africa. It is one of the strongest economies in Africa. It is obviously a very important market,” said Zhao.
Aside from that, Binance recently announced that it has hired Hannes Wessels, a former executive at HSBC South Africa, to serve as its regional country manager.
