Binance now allows Russian Ruble-based credit cards to make instant crypto purchases. The exchange announced the news on Wednesday.
Instant Funding
The service has previously been available in other currencies, including the US dollar. It’s part of the exchange’s neverending push to make crypto trading more accessible to common people.
Ruble-based credit card users can now purchase BTC, ETH, XRP, and BNB on an almost immediate basis. Other tokens are likely also available, according to the company’s blog post.
Binance doesn’t mention what limits will be in place for these types of purchases, but it does say you can simply add your card like you might to any other wallet.
Large crypto purchases are still typically done with bank transfers involved. Credit card processors charge relatively high fees compared to traditional bank wires.
On the more advanced side of the stage, Binance has also enabled borrowing against crypto assets.
In order to get leverage in futures trades, Binance users can now utilize their existing crypto holdings to fund futures trades, without needing to transfer. Apparently, the feature is currently only available for BUSD (Binance USD) to Tether borrowings, but Binance promises that other tokens will be available in the near future.
Easy Collateral
The new feature is called “cross collateral.”
Binance is not the only firm to offer users the ability to get liquidity out of their crypto holdings without actually using them. Another firm called Nexo allows average crypto users to take out loans against their cryptocurrency.
Binance recently increased its interest rates for borrowing three stablecoins (USDT, USDC, and BUSD). Binance USD is still the cheapest to borrow on the platform, with a daily interest rate of just 0.015%. By contrast, Tether is the most expensive, with a daily interest rate of 0.0325%.
Lending for trading and fees are the two primary ways that Binance, and most exchanges, make money.
Binance, over the years, has become much more than an exchange. From the beginning, it had a token, which eventually morphed into a blockchain platform. In the intervening years, Binance has dabbled in everything from decentralized exchanges to charity.
Now, it seems, with its recent actions, Binance has decided to zero back in on its core business: trading. At press time, Binance was one of the most used exchanges in the world.
