One of the largest drugstore chains in Ukraine, ANC Pharmacy, has teamed up with Binance Ukraine to introduce cryptocurrency payments through the contactless cryptocurrency payment tool Binance Pay.
The pharmacy chain formally stated on Tuesday that starting on January 3, ANC Pharmacy will allow consumers to proceed with quick payments when ordering pharmacy products online.
In Ukraine, ANC Pharmacy runs more than 1,000 pharmacies in addition to its own online pharmacy business. An official release states that Kyiv pharmacies would be the first to accept Binance Pay payments.
Both ANC pharmacies and drugstores run by ANC Pharmacy, notably Kopiyka and Shara, will accept the new payment option. The official statement read,
“ANC, Kopiyka and Shara are the first pharmacies in Europe to accept crypto.”
Users must first download the Binance app and then visit the ANC.ua website in order to proceed with a crypto payment at an ANC pharmacy. Users will be able to select a product online, pay with the Binance Pay service, and pick up their order from a selected pharmacy.
When local media contacted Binance Ukraine for comment, a spokesman did not answer right away.
Cryptocurrency Presence In Ukraine More Evident Now
Over the past several years, Binance has actively promoted its presence in Ukraine. Binance also collaborated with the Ukrainian supermarket chain Varus in September 2022, enabling customers to pay for their groceries using the Binance Pay Wallet.
With more than 111 locations spread over 28 cities in Ukraine, the supermarket is one of the biggest businesses in the nation. According to the business, this alliance would give its consumers access to quick delivery and instant cryptocurrency payments in nine Ukrainian cities: Kyiv, Dnipro, Kamianske, Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhzhia, Brovary, Nikopol, Vyshhorod, and Pavlograd.
Launching a Binance Card in Ukraine was one of Binance’s top priorities for 2022, according to Kirill Khomyakov, general manager of Binance Ukraine, who made the statement to Cointelegraph in early February 2022, or weeks before Russian armies invaded Ukraine.
Khomyakov claims that while cryptocurrency-derived transactions are not prohibited in Ukraine, payments made using services like Binance Card do not violate Ukrainian legal requirements. However, local legislation prohibits direct Bitcoin payments and other cryptocurrencies.