Binance Adds Near-Instant UK Pound Payments in Latest Fiat Expansion

Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange Binance has added a flurry of new fiat funding options since the first of the year including faster payments for U.K. pounds-bearing customers.

The company announced Wednesday 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.

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.

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 percent 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.