Binance to open offices, launch crypto card in Brazil
In a landmark move, crypto exchange Binance announced it will officially set up two new offices in Brazil.
According to local media, Binance’s core team will consist of 150 employees, who will be able to attend in-office or work remotely. The new offices are located in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo, which are considered major business hubs in the country.
Binance is also planning to launch its crypto debit card in Brazil, the second country in Latin America to have the product. Binance debit card works just the same as any other bank card, except it isn’t linked to a mobile banking app, but a crypto wallet.
Binance lets clients top-up their card with funds through the Binance Card App and then convert their crypto holdings to fiat within seconds, which can be spent at over 90 million Mastercard merchants worldwide. As such, the card doesn’t directly connect to the platform’s customer account.
Having entered the local market in 2019, Brazil is one of a few countries where Binance has set up a physical office. However, a group of local brokerage firms lodged a complaint against the exchange back in March accusing it of operating illegally in the country.
The move comes nearly three months after Binance cut ties with its existing payments partner in Brazil due to conflict with “its values.”
Citing the new requirements imposed by the Central Bank of Brazil, Capitual said it had to cut ties with Binance as the exchange failed to comply with the new rules. The Brazilian bank, which also provides payments services for other exchanges, said Kucoin and Huobi have adapted their systems to the changes. As such, they remain operational on the Capitual platform, and their customers can continue their transactions with reais regularly.
Binance suspended deposits and withdrawals in Brazilian reals through the government’s payment system Pix in June. Of note, the payments blockage coincided with the end of a deadline imposed by the Brazilain central bank for Pix providers to implement new “know your customer” requirements.
Binance was also reportedly planning to buy banks and payments processors in Brazil as a way into the market. It has already signed a memorandum of understanding to potentially acquire Brazilian securities brokerage firm, Sim;paul Investimentos. However, the takeover requires Binance to get approval from both the Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil (CVM) and the Central Bank of Brazil.
