The announcement comes just a day after the exchange said it was supporting deposits in Thai baht via a partnership with API solutions provider Satang Corp, as well as fiat gateways for Polish zloty and Swedish krona.
Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange Binance has added a flurry of new fiat funding options since New Year, including Faster Payments for U.K. pounds-bearing customers.
The company announced Wednesday that the addition comes via a new partnership with fiat-to-crypto payments provider Banxa, which also allows the firm to offer Australian dollar and euro purchases directly from Binance’s website. The firm notes that the euro option is available in «selected European countries» initially.
All told, the firm’s fiat payment options now come to 21 currencies after a shift away from purely crypto-to-crypto trading that kicked off last autumn.
“We believe fiat will co-exist with crypto for a long time to come,» Binance CEO Changpeng «CZ» Zhao said in the announcement. «More than 99.9% of the global money supply is still in fiat and we need to continue building bridges to enable easier flow into crypto.»
Binance plans to add support for «all 180 fiat currencies» during 2020, CZ added.
In other Binance news, the exchange says it has put up $1 million in its BNB token to kick-start a donations program that will fund relief for areas hit by Australia’s bushfires. Supporters can make donations in BNB via a dedicated web page here.
Bermuda Now Accepts USDC Crypto for Taxes and Government Services
Residents of Bermuda can now pay their taxes in cryptocurrency.
The Government of Bermuda announced Wednesday it will accept payments in USD Coin (USDC) “for taxes, fees and other government services”, according to a press release by crypto finance startup Circle.
USDC is a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar launched a year ago by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and Circle. To date, over $1 billion worth of USDC has been issued between the two startups.
In what looks to be the first for a sovereign nation, Bermuda will be supporting USDC as acceptable tax payment for some 60,000 residents.
What’s more, support for other “decentralized finance protocols and services” outside of USDC are also in the works as part of a broader initiative to integrate cryptocurrencies into official government operations, the press release stated.
The Bermuda government launched a blockchain task force in conjunction with the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA) in late 2017. It went on to pass legislation on initial coin offerings (ICOs) and create a regulatory sandbox for cryptocurrency companies.
As a result of the favorable focus on the crypto industry within the country, Circle recently moved its exchange operations to Bermuda in late July.
Others
Bermuda isn’t the first municipality to accept cryptocurrency payments.
Last November, Ohio became the first U.S. state to allow taxes to be paid in bitcoin. A subsequent political administration in the state walked back the bitcoin tax policy earlier this month citing potential conflicts with Ohio state law.
Notably, other national governments such as the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the People’s Republic of China are working on their own state-regulated cryptocurrencies.
“Governments everywhere will need to respond to this fundamental innovation”, Circle said in a statement, adding:
“Hats off to Bermuda Premier David Burt, who continues to show more leadership on these issues and very much remains out ahead of other governments in the world.”
