Binance Acquires Swipe With The Goal Of Mass Crypto Adoption In Mind

Binance has purchased crypto wallet company Swipe, according to an announcement on Monday, July 6. 

Swipe offers a Visa debit card service allowing users to buy and sell using cryptocurrencies. The platform works by converting crypto coins to fiat money, enabling crossover between traditional and decentralized finance. 

“To achieve our mission of making crypto more accessible to the masses, off-ramps are a key component as well," Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said. "By giving users the ability to convert and spend crypto directly, and have merchants still seamlessly accept fiat, this will make the crypto experience much better for everyone.” 

Binance cryptocurrency market by cryptodost.io via flikr

The Binance announcement did not disclose the value of the Swipe purchase deal. The company is currently operational in 31 countries spanning across Europe and the United States. Swipe supports major fiats including the dollar, euros and pound sterling. 

Binance has been working to introduce fiat gateways and launched a beta version of its own Binance card which can be used similarly to Swipe's Visa debit card. On Monday, July 6 Binance announced that it will launch a new fiat gateway enabling deposit service for 15 fiat currencies through a partnership with crypto custodian firm Etana Custody. 

The partnership allows Binance users to deposit a variety of currencies through their Binance accounts. The acquisition of Swipe is the first step towards enabling Binance account holders to use their deposited currencies for real-world payments. Binance's BNB token is now listed on the Swipe platform, meaning users can buy and sell the token with their linked bank accounts. The end of the announcement hinted that there are future projects in the works.

By Emily Mason

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