The peer-to-peer cryptocurrency payment app is available to all eligible users on Binance.com
Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has announced the release of its payments app, Binance Pay in public alpha. Binance Pay is a contactless peer-to-peer cryptocurrency payment feature that enables users to transact in virtual currencies like Bitcoin. The initiative marks the crypto exchange’s further expansion into the payments sector.
Binance Pay was initially rolled out in a soft launch in February last year for P2P payments. This enabled over 250,000 users to interact with the product. Today’s alpha launch has equipped Binance Pay with additional features like merchant-based transactions which are available to all users.
A Binance spokesperson also clarified to CoinTelegraph that the new service is not limited to certain jurisdictions and is currently available to “all eligible users on Binance.com”. Users can start using Binance Pay to meet their payment requirements by signing up on Binance and completing their identity verification.
“Users need to go to the Pay function on their Binance app to initiate the Pay account to start using the service. Once activated, users can fund their Pay wallet by moving funds from the spot wallet,” the representative explained.
Binance Pay currently supports over 30 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether and its native currency – Binance Coin (BNB). The platform is also equipped to work with five fiat currencies including the euro, British pound, Australian dollar, Brazilian real, and Turkish lira.
Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance explained how the zero-fee structure could help Binance Pay address the shortcoming of fiat-based payments networks. “Traditional payment infrastructure services are riddled with high transaction fees; we see this Pay product as a way to solve one of the many issues and limitations of traditional finance,” the CEO said.
“Finance is truly moving towards a digital world and economy where crypto is at the crux of this change which benefits the larger global population that needs it,” he added.
Legacy payments firms from across the world have been increasingly recognizing the potential of cryptocurrencies. Mastercard announced last month that it will enable its almost 1 billion users to send and receive cryptocurrencies as its rival Visa officially reaffirmed its commitment to crypto payments and innovation earlier this year.
Digital payments giant PayPal also recently announced that the company is looking to offer the crypto option across its platforms after debuting crypto trading through its platform in the US last year.
