Binance to support WeChat and Alipay for buying bitcoin in China

As The Block reported, “Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is set to add two more channels to its fiat gateway – WeChat and Alipay, allowing users in China to buy bitcoin (BTC) with the two payment options.

“Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao ‘CZ’ confirmed the move on Twitter on Wednesday. People familiar with the matter told The Block that the initiative is currently in a testing phase for Android users and will eventually be fully rolled out on iOS and Web.

“Cryptocurrency exchanges have officially been banned in China by the country’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), since late 2017. However, Chinese citizens can still buy bitcoin via peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms or through over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks. For instance, Huobi and OKEx were the main exchanges that facilitated Chinese Yuan (CNY) to BTC/USDT conversions disguised behind a P2P OTC desk.

“With today’s move, Binance has entered into the P2P trading space. Not only bitcoin, but Chinese users can also buy ether (ETH) and stablecoin Tether (USDT) with the P2P service.

“Interestingly, WeChat updated its payment policy in May, saying that it will terminate accounts of those users who engage in cryptocurrency trading. Alipay also was reportedly blocking accounts involved in bitcoin OTC trading. It, therefore, remains unclear how the move by Binance will take off…”

Continue to read the full story at The Block.

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