p2p - Pwim.Net

Binance Announces New Global Merchant Program for Crypto Peer-to-Peer Users

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced a new program into its array of programs and services. This program is available for all users and members of the platform as the exchange aims to service P2P users very better and to ensure optimal liquidity for them.

In a blog post, Binance noted that the P2P Merchant program is being launched with the sole aim of serving the increasing demand of Binance global users and providing higher liquidity. This program enabled the involved merchants to earn revenue by providing fiat currency payment solutions. They are also known to enjoy zero transaction fees as well as professional service support from Binance.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) stated that they only selected merchants with all carefulness when the P2P trading service was first launched. However, now they are looking for more global merchants.

“In the past quarter, there has been increasing growth in trading volumes on the Binance P2P platform, and we have constantly received requests for more fiat-to-crypto access from our global community. To meet the growing users’ demand, we are seeking credible merchants for the Binance P2P trading platform globally. We welcome quality payment services providers to join Binance’s Global P2P Merchant Program,” CZ said.

Binance opened the new program, keenly looking and waiting for P2P merchants globally in order to provide stable and better services for them and also ensure good liquidity. They are therefore calling on all outstanding teams to join Binance Global P2P Merchant Program.

Before now, merchants who joined the P2P platform did it through a strict invitation and referral program. However, to ensure a quality user experience and also protect the interests of their outstanding merchants, Binance expressed that the Global P2P Merchants Program will adopt an elimination mechanism. It will excite Binance to launch more promotional activities for the P2P merchants.

Image via Shutterstock

Bitcoin in Africa: Cryptocurrency and P2P Bitcoin Trade Surge Across the African Continent

According to recent data and reports, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption are soaring across Africa.

Cryptocurrency adoption and peer-to-peer Bitcoin transactions are on the rise across the African continent. There have been significant advances across Africa for crypto adoption in terms of regulation, trade volume, and reported cryptocurrency ownership.

Currently Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya frequently rank among the top 10 countries for Bitcoin Google searches according to a recent report by Arcane Research and Luno.

The research emphasizes that Africa is, “one of, if not the most promising regions” for cryptocurrency adoption as it exhibits a young and largely underbanked or unbanked population who are often forced to use expensive forms of money remittance.Crypto P2P Trades Surge Across Africa

The report found that South Africa had taken the lead on the continent for having the highest percentage of crypto ownership at 13% followed by Nigeria at 11%. South Africans also rank fifth globally for crypto adopters.

This week saw a surge in P2P trade activity for South Africa, allowing them to edge out Kenya with nearly $2 million in trade across Paxful and Localbitcoins.

South African’s appear to be reacting to the recent news of financial regulators taking virtual assets more seriously. Regulators in SA recently issued a policy document that asserts that crypto-assets and activities relating to them “can no longer remain outside the regulatory perimeter.”

Paxful in Africa: #BuiltWithBitcoin

Ray Youseff, CEO and Founder of the Paxful peer-to-peer marketplace also commented on the Bitcoin boom in Africa and the need for further education to ensure the people take advantage of this avenue to financial inclusion.

As part of its mission to provide equal access to the financial system, Paxful launched the #BuiltWithBitcoin, a social good initiative with the goal of building 100 schools funded entirely by bitcoin all across emerging markets. Youssef said, “There are 2 schools in Rwanda, and currently building the 3rd one in Machakos County, Kenya.” He added, “Africa is one of the fastest-growing markets in Paxful. We had an education drive focused on universities last year beginning with universities in East and Southern Africa, the initiative has reached over 1000 youths. The education workshops provided key, practical insights to the true use cases of Bitcoin, how to avoid falling prey to bad actors in the crypto-space and served to counter the over-emphasis on Bitcoin speculation.”

Beyond the talking points, how does greater financial inclusion benefit the global economy, and what problems remain in Youssef’s view? He explained, “The flow of wealth and money helps to make the economy more liquid and create more jobs. Providing an equal financial system bolsters this process by providing more participants and more opportunities to them. This often means new and creative ecosystems to help people and solve their problems will emerge which will provide people with jobs and a source of income.”

Image via Shutterstock

Binance Accused by Chinese State Media of Operating Cryptocurrency Exchange in China

Chinese state media has reported that Binance is still supporting local users trading cryptocurrency, despite China banning all exchanges in 2017.

According to a report by Chinese state media CCTV, a journalist in Beijing was able to create an account on Binance’s Chinese platform (binancezh.com) and immediately have access to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trade.

The journalist reports that they were able to easily register for an “individual” account on the website, upload all their identity documents and complete the facial recognition verification via Binance’s mobile app, with no difficulty.

The report states that the journalist then went on to purchase some Bitcoin on Binance’s peer-to-peer (P2P) platform without any issue, exchanging fiat currency with a counterparty. They then received an official notification from Binance that the transaction was completed.

Binance responded to CCTV and claims that its app cannot currently be downloaded in China and its website is inaccessible. A Binance spokesman also said that binancezh.com is just a test site and is mainly accessed by users from Egypt.

China and Cryptocurrency Exchanges

In 2017, China officially banned all cryptocurrency exchange activities within its borders. The ban, which was announced in September 2017 made it illegal for Chinese mainlanders to exchange digital money unless they operated offshore.

Which is precisely where they went. Huobi stopped all bitcoin trading in mainland China and have moved to Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea – they now operate globally. Shanghai-based BTCC also stopped trading and Binance moved Taiwan.

However, Chinese citizens can still buy crypto via peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms or over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks,. Last October, Binance also launched its P2P platform in China, enabling users to buy crypto via Alipay and WeChat. Alipay, however, later that said it doesn’t support crypto transactions.

Bitcoin Adoption in Africa Sees Massive Surge as P2P Volumes Hit All-Time Highs

Crypto analyst Kevin Rooke has revealed that Bitcoin peer to peer (P2P) volumes are hitting all-time highs (ATHs) as a 2.5-fold surge has been experienced since March.

Some of the African nations leading the pack include Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana, as the Bitcoin being traded weekly has exceeded $1 million.

Africa rising

The data presented shows that Africa is not being left behind as it has jumped on the crypto bandwagon based on the high Bitcoin trading volumes recorded. For instance, Nigeria is stamping its authority in the crypto space because Bitcoin traded using its currency; the Nigerian naira surpassed the $10 million mark last week. This figure is striking because it is twice the volume of the Venezuelan bolivar.

The Nigerian naira’s accomplishment moves it to the second position after the US dollar when it comes to P2P trading using fiat currencies. The primary P2P platforms utilized for Bitcoin trading in Africa are LocalBitcoins and Paxful.

Notable strides

Statistics presented by data analytics firm Useful Tulips show that Bitcoin trading has been on the rise in Sub Saharan Africa based on considerable crypto adoption. For instance, in 2016, Bitcoin traded was below $2 million, but now it has exceeded $16 million.

Therefore, P2P platforms are bridging the crypto adoption gap in Africa because increased Bitcoin trading in the continent shows that Africans have come to appreciate that the leading cryptocurrency is an ideal store of value and medium of exchange.

Despite the escalated Bitcoin trading in Africa, a recent report by leading US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken indicates that it has nosedived by 51%, representing a 6-month low in the first half of 2020 worldwide. Moreover, a relatively sluggish trend was recorded in June as a 31% month over month (MoM) drop was witnessed.

BitMEX Invests in South Africa’s Largest Bitcoin Exchange

In a bold financial move, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX has decided to invest in South Africa’s biggest Bitcoin exchange, VALR.

Bitcoin Crypto Exchange, VALR

The newly founded Bitcoin exchange offers safe digital trading for anyone and popular cryptocurrencies supported by their exchange include but are not reserved to Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Ripple (XRP), and Cardano. Although it was only launched in 2019, it has now grown to be a popular international exchange.

100x Ventures Dreams of Going Global

Parent company of BitMEX, 100x Ventures, was hypothesized to have invested in VALR for three key reasons.

The first reason that came into consideration was that it enabled the investment arm to expand its fintech horizons and it allowed the company to grow in overseas markets. Furthermore, 100x Ventures was able to meet the demands of regional exchanges as well as trading services with the new alliance formed with VALR.

Lastly, the investment might have executed by 100 Ventures because of the ever-growing and trending regional Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Bitcoin market. Outside of dominant countries hosting major cryptocurrency markets, Bitcoin exchanges are known to be less well-regulated or not as transparent in their crypto transactions. Consequently, this led to a surge of Peer-to-Peer crypto exchanges, which allowed investors to trade directly with each other.

Places in the world that record huge P2P crypto trading volumes include India, Mexico, and the Philippines, where a proper exchange infrastructure is often lacking. Since there is an increase in demand for regional exchanges around the world, 100x Venture thinks that its investment could be a bridge that joins predominant crypto markets with smaller ones. CEO and co-founder of BitMEX Arthur Hayes commented regarding the alliance with VALR Bitcoin exchange:

“South Africa has an incredibly exciting and fast-growing cryptocurrency ecosystem, and we believe VALR is well-placed to capitalize on future growth of bitcoin trading. In VALR we’re backing not only a successful early-stage business, but a management team with the ability to scale operations significantly.”

BTC Future Continues to Shine for BitMEX

Because of their investment, 100x Venture is now able to gain exposure in a developing crypto market as promising as South Africa. For several years on end, its finance affiliate BitMEX has also remained on top of their game. However, with the newly formed crypto alliance, both the P2P crypto trading platform and its parent company are now able to diversify their business even more, due to regional investments.

BitMEX remains a competitive player in the crypto field. In fact, the cryptocurrency exchange possesses an open interest of $1.02 billion dollars, which consists of double the amount of its competitors, such as Binance and Bybit.

LocalBitcoins Deploys Elliptic’s Blockchain-Powered Tracking Tools for Enhanced Surveillance

Leading peer to peer (P2P) Bitcoin trading platform LocalBitcoins has partnered with Elliptic, a global provider of crypto asset risk management solutions, to tame the headache of its illegal usage through blockchain-enabled monitoring tools.

Elliptic has had a reputation for offering crypto compliance solutions to enterprise crypto-financial institutions and businesses.

Screening crypto transactions

Through the strategic collaboration, Finland-based LocalBitcoins will comply with regulations, such as know-your-customer (KYC) and the European Union’s Fifth Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD). The P2P platform will use Elliptic Lens and Elliptic Navigator to screen crypto wallets and transactions, respectively.

According to a recent analysis by cryptocurrency intelligence company CipherTrace, LocalBitcoins has been a popular marketplace of receiving illegal funds. It, therefore, seeks to remove this reputation by deploying the blockchain monitoring tools.

Suspicious transactions continue wreaking havoc in the crypto space. Nevertheless, blockchain-based solutions are being touted as game-changers. For instance, CipherTrace has unveiled a predictive risk-scoring model to flag down money laundering of cryptocurrencies.

Anti-money laundering controls

According to Elliptic’s co-founder and chief scientist, Tom Robinson, P2P platforms in the crypto space have not been left behind. They are making notable strides in adopting new regulatory measures by initiating more technology-enabled and stringent anti-money laundering controls.

He added, “By choosing Elliptic, LocalBitcoins have demonstrated their commitment to eliminating illicit use of their platform.”

On the part of LocalBitcoins CEO, Sebastian Sonntag, he acknowledged, “Elliptic will enable us to achieve the highest levels of compliance while increasing operational efficiency and reducing costs. We will continue to invest heavily in AML and KYC to maintain a secure and trusted platform for our valued customers.”

Unclear Crypto Regulations in South Africa Alarm Entrepreneurs

The uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrency regulations in South Africa is fueling the move by the country’s homegrown crypto firms to more crypto-friendly countries.

As reported by Bloomberg, the clamour by the country’s entrepreneurs, particularly invested in cryptocurrencies is yielding no fruits, a situation that is limiting potential growth.

With crypto trading platforms such as Luno with registered headquarters in the UK a commonplace in the country, it lends credence to the claims that South African authorities “have been incredibly slow in terms of regulation in the industry and that leads to businesses looking internationally,” said Revix Chief Executive Officer Sean Sanders, whose firm is considering relocating its headquarters to the United Kingdom. He added:

“In an unregulated environment, a customer arrives at our platform with scepticism, and rightfully so.”

Entrepreneurs shared with Bloomberg that the lack of clear regulations is also preventing businesses to promote their services via social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter, a situation that has dampened growth.

Additionally, there is a banking divide in dealing with digital currency service providers in the country. While institutions like the Standard Bank Group Ltd. provide unrestricted access to all of its services to crypto firms, entities like First National Bank has no banking relationships with virtual-currency exchanges or traders.

The lack of regulatory framework has also made it difficult for crypto platforms to operate bank accounts, said Luno head Marius Reitz. “In turn, this makes it very difficult for customers to buy Bitcoin with their local fiat currency.”

The regulatory situation in South Africa is as concerning as that in Nigeria, Africa’s largest cryptocurrency marketplace. With governments failing to embrace the next shift in innovations, emerging firms are either developing strategies to circumvent unfavourable regulations set out by the government, such as by leveraging peer-to-peer trading, or making moves to take their businesses elsewhere, where they will be more welcome.

Africa Records the Largest Bitcoin P2P Volume Growth

Africa continues to stamp its authority in the crypto space based on the significant adoption rates witnessed in the continent, as acknowledged by Documenting Bitcoin.

The crypto data provider explained:

“Africa has the largest Bitcoin peer-to-peer (P2P) volume growth—proving nothing can stop the innovative and driven youth from securing a better future for themselves and their families.”

Therefore, African youths are taking up the mantle of bettering their lives and their families through Bitcoin.

In July last year, BTC being traded weekly exceeded $1 million on African soil, and some of the nations leading the pack included Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Ghana.

Documenting Bitcoin added:

“Nigeria’s peer-to-peer Bitcoin volume is going vertical—proving nothing can stop the innovative and driven youth from building a better future for themselves and their nation.”

Bitcoin supply shock gets more aggressive

Bitcoin gained considerable momentum after a short-squeeze setup was created after the leading cryptocurrency made a $3K intraday move despite the futures markets remaining short. At that time, BTC surged from lows of $29K to hit $32K.

The top currency has surged by 23.92% in the last seven days to once hit $40,011, according to CoinMarketCap.

On-chain analyst Will Clemente acknowledged:

“This current wave of BTC supply shock has a lot of momentum. Think of this as a visual for the underlying wave of supply shock (or lack thereof) in the market. The last time we went from full reset to buy signal was September, although this current move is much more aggressive.

The analyst had previously noted that the Bitcoin supply squeeze was just getting started, given that the illiquid supply RSI indicator had flashed the first buy signal since November last year. As Bitcoin continues testing the $40K waters, whether it will surge past this psychological level remains to be seen.

Regulatory Clampdown Pushed US and China Down the Crypto Adoption List, Chainalysis says

Cryptocurrency analysis data platform, Chainalysis has released its 2021 Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index, with data pointing to the 880% growth in the worldwide adoption curve. The increasing embrace of P2P trading systems becomes the driving force in many emerging markets worldwide.

Where is the US and China in Crypto Adoption Rate?

According to the Chainalysis report, the United States now ranks 8th in the list of countries with the most robust crypto adoption rate. The Asian giant, China, is currently placed in the 13th position, a level below the Sixth position attained last year and Fourth for the US, respectively.

This ranking, computed mainly by virtue of the P2P growth in these regions, also highlighted the falling growth rate of these transactional models fueled most by retail investors.

As shown in the chart above, the US and China remarkably saw an uptick in their P2P growth rates at the beginning of the year, a trend that soon started retrogressing sometime around March. Various events have shaped the embrace of P2P in both countries, with the Chinese government’s clampdown on all cryptocurrency activities, including mining and trading drastically pushing the country down the ladder.

However, in the United States, the institutionalisation of cryptocurrency transactions dominates the American digital currency landscape. The report reads:

“The U.S. and China see their P2P transaction volume shrink as the rest of the world grows. While all three dip dramatically beginning in March 2021, the U.S. and China dip more and remain lower than worldwide. This activity may reflect increasing professionalisation and institutionalization of cryptocurrency trading in the United States, and in China’s case may be related to ongoing government crackdowns on cryptocurrency trading,”

Chainalysis Report Compliment Finder’s

There have been a few reports showcasing the strength of the emerging blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. Chainalysis and Finder’s, whose report was released last week, shares a major point of intersection, the data on the country with the most adoption rate, Vietnam. While Finder’s assigned Vietnam a 41% adoption rate, Chainalysis ranked the Asian nation with an Index score of 1.00.

To boost these reports, a recent KPMG study projects that the maturation of the cryptocurrency industry will inch a few steps upward in the second half of this year.

LocalBitcoins Cuts Fees to Zero for Ukrainians Both Locally and Abroad

To ease transactions amongst Ukrainians as they face the Russian Army Invasion in their nation, the world’s leading peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace, LocalBitcoins, has removed all fees for them both locally and abroad.

Based on its primary objective of rendering freedom, the firm’s CMO, Jukka Blomberg, acknowledged that this decision was reached as Ukrainians face unprecedented times of war. He added:

“LocalBitcoins’ core value is freedom. We understand that at the moment, Ukraine is facing extremely challenging times. For this reason, LocalBitcoins has removed all fees from its Ukrainian users.”

Therefore, this revelation means that Ukrainians will have a free BTC wallet that they can use to exchange their national currency, the hryvnia, at zero rates.

The crypto community has also shown its lending hand by donating crypto worth more than $30 million to aid humanitarian efforts.

Some of the notable faces in the crypto space that have channelled their funds to support the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis include Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, with a $10 million donation.

The funds were to be split between top non-profit organizations with whom Binance had prior partnerships like People in Need, UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, iSans, and UNICEF.

Furthermore, Canada-based crypto exchange CoinSmart had raised funds to the tune of $19 million to support the people of Ukraine and assist the international community in alleviating their immense suffering.

CoinSmart is among six crypto platforms registered as a securities dealer and market by the Ontario Securities Commission. The others include Wealthsimple, Coinberry, Netcoins, Fidelity, and Bitbuy.

The gesture by LocalBitcoins is a welcome move for Ukrainians because it recently hit a new milestone of surpassing 200,000 mobile app downloads.