Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao a.k.a CZ was in Côte d’Ivoire recently to discuss the prospect of including crypto activities on commercial exchanges in the West African nation.
After enduring regulatory pressure from the South African region last year and halting its futures trading service, Binance’s next destination was to expand in the West African crypto market.
On 6th July, CZ retweeted a Twitter post that showed him meeting with the nation’s president Alassane Dramane Ouattara.
According to the govt website, the interview with the Binance founder at the Palace of the Presidency of the Republic, focused on economic and financial issues related to access to cryptocurrency.
Besides being the largest economy in the West African Economic and Monetary Union, Côte d’Ivoire has announced a slew of initiatives to draw business from around the world.
At the recently concluded Africa CEO Forum, an event that saw the participation of nearly 2,000 political, business, and thought leaders, topics were mainly focused on emerging technologies that included digital payments, Blockchain, etc.
Since September last year, crypto adoption in Africa jumped by over 1,200%. Several crypto-focused firms and entrepreneurs see the potential for massive adoption in the region.
Africa’s crypto scene had a major turnaround when the Central African Republic [CAR] surprised everyone when it decided to quietly adopt Bitcoin as its legal tender after El Salvador.
Moreover, as we reported, CAR has recently launched the crypto hub project Sango on July 3 to bolster digital assets adoption in the country.
Meanwhile, Binance offered to share its expertise with Cambodian Fintech, a few days ago.
Binance Signs MOU With Cambodia’s Regulator
Crypto exchange Binance has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Securities and Exchange Regulator of Cambodia [SERC], according to a June 30 announcement.
As per the blog, Binance and SERC will work together to develop digital assets regulations in the country. SERC is looking to leverage Binance’s technical expertise and experience in the field to develop its own legal framework for the digital asset market.
It needs to be mentioned that cryptocurrencies are not regulated in Cambodia, and as such any unlicensed activity with regards to these asset class digital assets is deemed illegal.
The partnership assumed significance for the South Asian country, where any crypto-linked activity is highly prohibited since 2018.