The world’s arguably most popular cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced the launch of its very own Binance card on Thursday, exclusively for crypto shoppers, in an attempt to make shopping using cryptocurrencies a more effortless and a much straightforward task.
Paying bills or purchasing goods could be a daunting task for many. Although there are several upcoming crypto payment service providers in the market, much like crypto.com which recently launched its unique crypto invoicing feature that generates instant bills for items purchase using crypto, and Canadian company NatCents that revealed its crypto credit card as a way to encourage people to start using crypto as the preferred mode of payment, Binance believes that those could be too time-consuming.
Thus, in its efforts to take cryptocurrency adoption even further and build products that essentially revolve around ease of life, Binance is introducing the beta version of its brand new Binance card.
Binance card – A major step towards crypto adoption
To put it simply, if you wish to pay for a coffee using the crypto balance in your wallet, pay electricity bills, or simply purchase clothes from an online retailer, the Binance card will be the friend you need during your shopping spree. The crypto-powered Binance card will be linked to your Binance account, thus circumventing the entire process of selling the crypto and waiting for the withdrawal to reflect in the bank account.
Although the new Binance card acts as any bank’s debit card, the unique selling feature is that it has nothing to do with the bank account itself but instead associated with the Binance.com account.
According to the announcement, the e-version of the Binance card will be available in Malaysia starting next month and soon be converted into a physical card. The next in line to avail of the Binance card will be Vietnam, followed by other countries.
Binance card comes with its very own mobile app
With a small one-time fee of fifteen US dollars ($15), users can instantly view account balance, manage credit balance, security features, and facilitate easy and fast cryptocurrency payments using the mobile app.
With the exclusively-made Binance card smartphone app, users can replenish the account balance with Bitcoin or Binance Coin and continue with hassle-free shopping.
Soon after the official announcement, Binance CEO and reportedly the most successful crypto entrepreneur of our generation, Changpeng Zhao, took to Twitter to explain the motive behind launching the card.
Cryptocurrency adoption in the mainstream is a classic chicken and egg problem. Although the crypto has demonstrated extensive real-world use cases by now, the adoption rate is insignificant. Because there is less than one percent (1%) of the population owning crypto, merchants do not perceive it as a high-yielding opportunity. With the same logic, as fewer merchants are accepting it, people are reluctant to turn to crypto, Zhao explained.
Binance card is a potential solution to this problem, Zhao affirmed. Merchants can now adopt crypto despite receiving their payments in fiat, and users can conveniently switch to crypto when shopping for items or services. And that’s the way to boost the adoption rate, Zhao added.
