Binance announced on Thursday (December 12), via a press release shared with CryptoGlobe, the launch of “Latamex”, its new fiat gateway for Latin America.
Binance revealed its plans for the Latamex platform at the 7th LABITCONF (the Latin American Bitcoin and Blockchain Conference 2019), which is held 12–13 December 2019 in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Until today, the Binance Fiat Gateway had four partners: Simplex; Koinal; TrustToken; and Paxos.
Well, from today, as a result of a new partnership with the Settle Network (“the largest digital assets settlement network in Latin America”), Binance’s Latamex platform will allow users in Latin America (starting with Brazil and Argentina) to buy/sell crypto using fiat currency.
Here is how the Settle Network describes itself:
We provide programmatic interoperability between traditional and digital assets, by leveraging our financial infrastructure in every country we operate. Covering the most relevant markets, including the largest banks and +100.000 retail locations.
This enables unlimited and compliant interoperability between digital assets and the most important local currencies.
Binance Co-Founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (aka “CZ”) had this to say:
“There is a strong need for cryptocurrency in Latin America, especially for financial access. Roughly 50 percent of the Latin American population is unbanked, and Latamex is a response to our users’ demands and the current market climate. Working with Settle Network allows us to instantly bridge the gap between fiat and crypto for Latin American traders. We are continuing to build with our key partner, Settle Network, to bring wider accessibility of cryptocurrency in Latin America and will support additional local fiat currencies in the region in the future.”
He then added:
“The crypto industry is still in its early stages and most of the world’s money is still in fiat. Building fiat gateways is what we need now to grow the ecosystem, increase adoption and introduce crypto to more users.”
As for Pablo Orlando, Founder and CEO of Settle Network, he stated:
“Latin America has illustrated one of the largest needs and use cases for blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption. Partnering with Binance has allowed us to further open fiat gateways for Latin American users together and bring larger adoption forward to provide financial freedom in the region.”
In the future, Binance plans to launch Latamex in 13 other Central and South American countries: Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; Dominican Republic; Guatemala; Honduras, Mexico; Nicaragua; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Salvador; and Uruguay.
Featured Image Courtesy of Binance
