It had been reported in March 2018 that Binance was in talks with Maltese Banks to offer USD and other fiat conversions from various cryptocurrencies. It had been reported on various sites that this new found confidence could make Binance add more fiat to pairs such as Ripple (XRP) and Verge (XVG) which would be especially benefitted.
It had even been reported that XRP/USD and XVG/USD pairs would have been the first pairs to be listed on the exchange in few months’ time. This was on the heels of the speculation that the exchange would also be adding ADA/BNB and ADA/USDT pairs on the platform. The adoption was supposed to fight the domination of Coinbase in the industry.
However, just yesterday a spokeswoman clarified in an email that the reports are part of “fake news” with Zhao confirming on Twitter later –
“While we can't predict the future, others keep attempting it on us. Both "news" is not accurate. We are working with banks (to potentially support fiat), but no plans for USD in the short term. No xvg or xpr involved. Be careful around predictive "crystal ball" news.”
This has shut down all rumours and speculations of this nature which were causing an uptick in the prices of various altcoins.
Binance is the top exchange on Coinmarktcap’s list of exchanges and has clocked in over $2 billion in trading volumes over the last 24 hours. It is one of the most famous multi-language cryptocurrency exchanges right now.It stood as the largest exchange with a market capitalization of $1.3 billion as on January 2018. It was the first exchanges to introduce the concept of its own coin called BNB (Binance Coin) which the users can buy to get 50% discount on the fees.
Binance is all set to get competition as Bithumb, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange is planning to issues its own digital asset called as BITHUMB Coin. Since Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) are banned in South Korea, the asset will be launched in Singapore. “We know that the Bithumb coin is underway at a local subsidiary acquired by Bithumb’s subsidiary,” a person associated with Bithumb reportedly stated. “Details such as the specific schedule and issue size have not been confirmed.”
The rumours of Binance introducing fiat trading had begun taking shape after the exchange announced plans about moving their HQ to Malta. Binance CEO & Founder, Zhao Changpeng had expressed his confidence in the Maltese leadership after meeting them.
“After meeting with Parliamentary Secretary, Mr. Silvio Schembri, we were impressed by the logical, clear and forward-thinking nature of Malta’s leadership. After reviewing a proposal bill, we are convinced that Malta will be the next hotbed for innovative blockchain companies and a center of the blockchain ecosystem in Europe.”
If this news would have been true - it would have come as a major blow to Bitcoins as people would no longer have to buy altcoins via Bitcoin. 'Bitcoin reliance', which is basically the dependency of other currencies on Bitcoin would reduce. So far, much of what happens to BItcoin's prices is reflected on the price of altcoins. This reliance of currencies on the price of Bitcoin can reduce only when more fiat trading pairs are introduced!