Binance receives the green light from Thailand’s SEC to operate a crypto exchange and brokerage. This is its first license in Southeast Asia, thanks to the partnership with Gulf Energy Development, one of Thailand’s largest private power producers.
As per local sources, Binance will start operations in the fourth quarter of 2023 as a 51-49 joint venture with Gulf Innova, the fintech arm of Gulf Energy, which invested $20 million for a 0.4% stake in Binance’s U.S. operation.
Speaking on the development, Richard Teng, regional head of Asia stated, “By harnessing Binance’s expertise together with Gulf’s established local presence and network, the exchange aims to showcase the full potential of blockchain technology to meet the needs of Thai users.”
With Binance’s entry, the local crypto market, currently dominated by Bitkub, will have a competitive platform. For the record, the CZ-led trading firm is the largest digital asset exchange in the world by trading volume.
Notably, homegrown Bitkub’s market share increased by almost 75%, when its nearest rival and no 2 Zipmex filed for bankruptcy after the Terra Luna fiasco in mid-2022.
In addition, the harsh crypto winter wiped out investors’ funds, with Thai digital asset exchanges experiencing a 79% decline in trading volume in 2017, which finally contributed to the demise of the global exchange FTX.
Further, Teng said that Thai users “can expect access to a trusted and regulated service that prioritizes user security alongside compliance with local regulations” from Binance.
Recently, the crypto behemoth declared that it would discontinue various trading pairs, including those for well-known coins like Cardano [ADA], Ripple [XRP], and Polygon [MATIC].
Binance Removed ADA, SHIB Trading Pair
The Shiba Inu [SHIB] token has also been impacted by this change, which is scheduled to go into effect on June 1, 2023, at 6:00 a.m. UTC.
The list of affected pairs also includes the newly delisted SHIB/AUD, XRP/AUD, MATIC/AUD, and ADA/AUD. Aside from these, trading pairs for AUD/BUSD, AUD/USDT, BNB/AUD, BTC/AUD, DOGE/AUD, ETH/AUD, and GALA/AUD will also be discontinued.
Continuing its expansion, Binance embarked on the NFT lending scene by rolling out a new feature that allowed users to borrow cryptocurrencies using NFTs as collateral.
According to sources, the Binance NFT marketplace presently allows borrowing of ether [ETH] against popular or “blue-chip” NFTs including Bored Ape Yacht Club [BAYC], Mutant Ape Yacht Club [MAYC], Azuki, and Doodles.