Author: Joy, PANews
After being accused by U.S. regulators, Binance's cooperation with traditional financial institutions has faced many challenges, and this is a microcosm of crypto institutions being "stuck" by traditional finance.
A Mastercard spokesperson said via email on August 24 that Mastercard and Binance will end four crypto card projects in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Bahrain on September 22. Visa has stopped issuing new co-branded cards with Binance in Europe since July. Neither Mastercard nor Visa disclosed the specific reasons for this adjustment.
But Binance posted on social platform Meanwhile, Mastercard said this has no impact on any other crypto card programs. The company said the grace period will allow cardholders to convert any assets in their Binance wallet. The card service will cease operating in the Middle East on August 25 and in Latin America on September 21. Users will still be able to process refunds and disputes until December 20, 2023.
The Binance Debit Card allows users to leverage their crypto assets to make purchases in stores or online, similar to how traditional bank-issued debit cards work. The card launched in Latin America less than a year ago, first in Argentina in August and then in Brazil in January of this year. Issued by Movii, it allows users in the region with valid ID to shop and pay bills using cryptocurrencies.
Coincidentally, not long ago, on August 16, Binance stated in a statement that the company would officially shut down its crypto payment service Binance Connect (formerly known as Bifinity) one year after its launch. Binance Connect launched in March 2022, allowing merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments, and the exchange said at the time that it was designed to help businesses become "crypto-ready." The service supports 50 cryptocurrencies and all major payment methods, including Visa and Mastercard.
At that time, Binance gave the reason for closing Binance Connect because it “wanted to refocus on its main products and long-term goals to ensure that resources continue to be focused on core work in line with the long-term strategy.” Perhaps, in addition to its own business focus, this product Being stopped by the partner is the important reason.
Sure enough, shortly after the announcement of the closure of Binance Connect, London-based payment processor Checkout.com said it had terminated its contract with Binance on August 17 due to money laundering and compliance issues. In a letter to Binance, Checkout CEO Guillaume Pousaz expressed additional concerns about Binance’s anti-money laundering, sanctions and compliance controls. Binance also responded, saying it disagreed with Checkout’s basis for terminating the contract and said it was considering taking legal action. Checkout is one of the partners of Binance Connect, and another partner of the project, the European payment provider PaySafe, stopped cooperating with Binance in June.
Earlier, Binance was cut off from the U.S. banking system in February and lost the ability to accept transfers from some banks in Australia in May. However, the suspension of cooperation in these two regions was not just for Binance, but almost All exchanges.
It is worth mentioning that after the boat of friendship with traditional finance capsized, Binance is actively building a new payment system.
On August 22, Binance announced that it had launched the crypto payment service Binance Pay in Brazil. It is reported that Latam Gateway is Binance’s payment service provider in Brazil. Binance Pay is a service provided in partnership with payment institutions officially licensed by the Central Bank of Brazil, which are ultimately responsible for the processing of payment activities.
Binance Pay is a contactless, borderless, and secure cryptocurrency payment method that supports over 70 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), BNB, Ethereum (ETH), and USDT. Users pay no fees, while merchants and vendors can accept payments using a solution that securely moves funds from wallet to wallet in seconds. Merchants in Brazil can choose to be paid directly to their wallets in Brazilian reals or cryptocurrencies. Since its initial launch in 2021, Binance Pay has reached over 12 million active users and has processed over $98 billion in payment volume to date.
At a time when crypto exchanges are being choked by traditional financial and regulatory agencies, how to break the situation and realize the circulation of funds will become a difficult problem for a long time to come.