TNW: Binance Lite to Allow Australians to Purchase Bitcoin at Newsagents

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance is expanding its “Binance Lite” service to allow Australian residents to purchase Bitcoin (BTC) at newsagents, technology news outlet The Next Web reported on March 19.

The new service Binance Lite — which will initially be introduced in Australia — is purportedly set to enable customers to buy digital currency with fiat money from more than 1,300 supported newsagents within the country. The service currently supports only the purchase of Bitcoin, although it will offer more digital currency and fiat options at a later date.

Before using the service, customers are requested to pass account verification, including Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering procedures. Following that, users will be able to place an order online, deposit cash at a newsagent, and receive their Bitcoin “within minutes.” Australian customers of Binance Lite will reportedly be required to pay a five percent fee for operations.

Earlier this month, CEO of Binance Changpeng Zhao hinted at the creation of a new fiat-to-crypto exchange in Argentina in a tweet. Following the tweet, crypto news website CoinSpice reported about an agreement between the government of Argentina with Binance Labs — the exchange’s investment and social impact arm — to co-invest in blockchain projects that are backed by the exchange.

In January, Binance added support for credit card cryptocurrency purchases through its partnership with payment processor Simplex. Zhao said then that the exchange’s clients can purchase digital assets with credit cards and “start trading in minutes.”

Last November, Binance confirmed to Cointelegraph that it would use an automated KYC application provided by financial software firm Refinitiv. This will purportedly allow Binance to integrate the World-Check Risk Intelligence database into their internal workflow and streamline the screening process for onboarding, KYC, and third-party risk due diligence.