Binance's Crypto Payment Wing Shuts Doors after One and a Half Years

Binance Connect, the fiat-to-cryptocurrency payments service launched by Binance in March last year, will cease operations tomorrow (Wednesday). A Binance spokesperson confirmed the development to Cointelegraph.

Binance Connect Ends Journey

According to the spokesperson, the decision to shut down the arm was taken as part of Binance’s periodic review of its products and services. The exchange continually adjusts its business strategy to align with evolving market demands and user preferences, the spokesperson told Cointelegraph.

However, in an announcement posted on X on Tuesday, Biswap, a decentralized exchange that runs on the Binance Smart Chain, noted that Binance made the “difficult decision” to disable Binance Connect today “due to its provider closing the supporting card payments service.”

“This change aligns with the strategic efforts of Binance to focus on its core business,” Biswap said, adding that it will turn off Binance Connect on its website today at 01:00 PM UTC.

Dear Biswappers,The Biswap team keeps abreast of the latest DeFi news and aims to inform you right away.After a thorough consideration, @binance has made a difficult decision to disable @Binance_Connect on 15 August due to its provider closing the supporting card payments… pic.twitter.com/HcooyLn4sg

The new development takes place a few months after Binance lost the support of Paysafe Solutions, its euro banking partner. From September 25, 2023, Paysafe Solutions will stop offering support for the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) to Binance. The move followed concerns raised by the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK's financial regulator, over Binance's use of the country's payment network, Finance Magnates reported.

Binance Connect, previously known as Bifinity, enables businesses to facilitate crypto payments through application programming interfaces (APIs). At launch in 2022, the platform facilitated payment in over 50 digital currencies around the world. It also accepted payment through major payment routes, such as Visa and Mastercard.

We are LIVE! Learn about our services, and how we will be partnering with SafePal, Zilliqa, Paysafe, and https://t.co/QSB0QPYxFV to expand cryptocurrency access worldwide.https://t.co/PwlRt0JmfL#cryptocurrency #payments pic.twitter.com/IdFOLIoAXi

"As the crypto and the Web3 economy continue to grow, we see greater demand to build improved fiat-to-crypto on-ramps to bridge the gap between traditional finance and the decentralized and centralized crypto economy,” Helen Hai, the President of Binance Connect, said at the time. “At Binance, the vision is to increase the freedom of money globally.”

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